go with god
20 March 2006Got the news last night that Father Bob– our 86 year old catholic priest great uncle–passed away suddenly yesterday. This is the man who, just last year, handed out copies of a card that said “Jesus loves you” on the front and “…everyone else thinks you’re an asshole” on the inside, and who carried a mason jar full of rye to my relatives’ houses over holidays to make sure he’d be able to mix up his various old man drinks. When he found himself without it at one point and my mom offered him a gin and tonic instead, he responded, without missing a beat, “any port in a storm.” He was the only one of us who would sing the response to “How Old Are You Now” (“I’m just eight-y-fiiiiive….”) on his birthday which, like the big JC, was Christmas Day, and was once videotaped by my little brother giving a long monologue on sex (“Sex isn’t what you do, it’s what you have, what you are. You’re always ‘having sex.’ I had sex all last night. I’m having sex right now, in fact.”) Eight decades of service and now he gets to meet the man he devoted his life to. I hope it was worth it, and I’m sure that it was.
2 Responses to “go with god”
March 20th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
That’s sad to hear — but this is one man you know is going to be happier up there.
March 20th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
No kidding. And I bet the big dude never runs out of rye. I’m sure he’s having a ball.