It's Sept. 11 again and i'm stunned...FIVE YEARS ALREADY?!
There's times that it seems like it happened one hundred years ago, but really, it was only FIVE years ago...there was a world before that date and now...i'm really thankful i took my kids on an airplane ride to see their grandparents before that happened...before there were all those damn checkpoints..."look kids, there's grandpa and grandma standing right by the window waiting for us"...and really, there's no point in moaning about what use to be because it ain't going back...not with all these terror alerts complete in orange, red and yellow...so, tonite, my family is going to do the only thing we know how to do...
CELEBRATE.
That's right...celebrate life...as in how dare you terrorists THINK you can destroy us with fear..! Bite me you B%#st**ds!!! Today my family will celebrate LIFE...TODAY is a day we will share together...with love, with random acts of kindness toward strangers, maybe even taking some cookies to one of our elderly neighbors...just because.
Today i will FEAR the acts of GOD...but i will not fear the acts of man!
Cindy Huber
ps...geez...maybe i shouldn't have skipped my prozac before lunch.
An Appreciation of my uncle, ROBERT FALT
Tonite, i will also celebrate the life of my precious uncle, BOB FALT, who was a science teacher in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and before Type 2 Diabetes destroyed his health, a tennis instructer...he was a smart and brilliant man who raised seahorses in his basement...yes, seahorses...i mean, they won't even sell them to the general public anymore because they are so difficult to keep alive and apparently feel pain...but my uncle raised them...AND sold them to the pet stores...i never really knew how awesome that was...to go down in his basement to play with my cousin Jennifer and watch the seahorses...now when i think back, i'm totally in awe.
I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit him a few months ago with my mom...it was obvious that he was dying but he lived alone in a apartment complex, and sat outside on the porch waiting for kids to go by with their homework so he could offer help...he was also dying of loneliness so my mom came upon a compromise...if he would give up smoking, my mom would buy him a puppy...at the time i wondered about the sanity of the situation...my poor uncle, suffering from cigerette withdrawal while the puppy would be peeing all over his apartment...but my uncle said yes so out we went and bought my uncle a puppy...because that's what you do when someone is dying right?...you buy them a puppy...at the time i promised my uncle that if anything happened to him...i would take care of the puppy...and, well, you know where this is going to go, right..?
My uncle passed away this past Saturday...alone, but not alone...as several of his neighbors, who loved him very much, were keeping an eye on him...one knew that he was bad and begged him to let her call 911...but he said no...(actually he said "don't you dare" as he was terrified of having to go to a nursing home again)...he was found, probably a few minutes after he died by his new family of neighbors...with his dog by his side...
Oh yes, the dog...remember that promise i made?
4 comments:
Cindy,
I was a former student of your uncle's here in Cedar Rapids about 20 years ago or so. You were right - He was brilliant and I will never forget his brilliance. He was one of my favorite teachers, making science mean something - something fun. We raised all kinds of creatures in his class - pythons, chinchillas, rats, etc., etc. He was kind, compassionate, and loved teaching. I have thought of him often over the years - mostly when watching the Discovery Channel or something. He helped me personally through some very trying times. The last time I saw him was a number of years ago here in town - he told me he was trying to quit smoking and that his health wasn't good. He still looked the same. A mischevious grin still on his face. He will truly be missed, and our prayers go out to you and to all your family members.
Dear Dave, Cara and Jill,
you have no idea how much reading your emails concerning my uncle comforted me...and know i will forward your comments to Bob's daughter, my cousin Jennifer-who ended up with the dog, by the way-i guess an awful lot of my grief came with the "weird feeling" that i should call him (the week he died)...he was on my mind all week and i kept thinking "i'm gonna call him right after i do this" and then getting busy with something else...
I think you'll get a kick out of this...his health was really bad the last couple years of his life and his wonderful daughter Jennifer moved him to Tuscan, Arizona to be close to her and he ended up in the nursing home shortly after...BUT...in the final 8 months of his life my awesome and stubborn uncle-in incredibly BAD health-CHECKED HIMSELF OUT of the nursing home and got himself (with Jennie's help) an apartment which he filled up with a jungle of tropical plants...and humming birds...and he surrounded himself with new neighbors of all races in which he knew all their names and the names of their kids--no lie--and it is these memories which comfort me when i think about him...he didn't die alone or connected to tons of tubes which is what he feared...but the moral of this to me is the NEXT TIME i feel an URGE to call someone...i need to DO IT...no more of this next time crap...
Cindy Huber
Cindy,
I have very fond memories of your uncle and was thinking of him today. I graduated from JFK in '85 and if memory serves I had like 8 or 9 classes with Bob...which after the first were very on-purpose. He was my favorite teacher of all time!! I use stories and little phrases that I learned from him still to this day. Learning from Bob was an honor and a distinct pleasure and I hope that students of his that have become teachers have passed along his love for the job, excitement for science, wonderful sense of humor and his genuine caring for his students' well being! Please pass this along to his daughter and family. Thank you very much.
Cary G
Hello Cary,
I cannot thank you enough for your email and you can be sure i will pass this along to his daughter Jennifer.
Thank you so much for remembering my Uncle Bob...i still can't believe he's gone!
Cindy Huber
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