Seven years ago today we lost my Uncle Pete to lung cancer.

I miss him, and I've been thinking about my Aunt (we call Sissy) constantly today. Mom said she went to the cemetery first thing this morning and that Pete's brother (we call Sonny) was keeping her company today.

I always remember this date because the following year, Carmen was due on the same date. I was actually relieved that she wasn't born on that day--she came a week early.

There is a picture I have of Pete with Allison & me when we were little that reminds me of how he played with us, calling us Pests # 1 and 2 and telling us the Pete and Repeat joke. I looked for that picture for a while tonight, but I quit looking, deciding to scan the picture I had in a frame on the mantel instead.

My Mom's side of the family lived nearby when I was growing up and we saw them all the time... birthdays and holidays as well as swimming in their pool, boating and learning to water ski on Pete's boat, and sometimes going on trips (I remember one trip to the Big Thicket where we stayed in a camper and went fishing). We had Christmas at Sissy & Pete's house for years when I was a kid--they had the requisite chimney and fireplace, and I vividly remember trying to fall asleep there while waiting to hear or see Santa Claus. We used to love the drive to Sissy & Pete's--we called it the "roller coaster" and especially liked to drive there in Dad's Sprite. It's hard to believe we used to sit behind the bucket seats of that car!

I remember how Pete looked out for Nanny before he died. Around that time, she was in the hospital, too, with a broken femur, I believe. I think that's when she had to move out of her house.

I wish I could find the eulogy that David & I wrote and he delivered at the funeral, but that was at least 3 computers ago, so we're not exactly sure where to find that tonight.

Maybe I will be able to find it soon.

In the meantime, in memory of Pete, I will continue my campaign against tobacco in the classroom and the world at large. I posted a message in honor of Pete at thetruth.com a few years ago. I tried to go find it tonight and couldn't.

As it is, I still have to pay bills then get ready for the second week of school. Where did the weekend go? The kids are asleep, but the unsorted and flat-but-unfolded laundry is piled high on our bed, so I have piles to go until I sleep.

Sissy, I'm thinking about you. We love you.