Whose Uncle?

The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is UNCLE

This word brings to mind an expression I’ve seen from time to time in British novels, “BOB’S YOUR UNCLE.”

As in, “As quick as you can say ‘Bob’s your uncle’, he’ll have it done.”

This expression seems to be — or was once — common in England, but has never crossed the ocean, as far as I know. We say say, “Quick as a wink,” or “In double quick time. And we’ve borrowed the Spanish  “Pronto.” And “In a flash,” is common. But the proverbial Uncle Bob remains a mystery.

My husband, also a Bob, came across an obituary yesterday and showed me, as this was a death in my family circle. Not my uncle, but rather my birth mother’s first cousin Garnet H. He died March 18th at the age of 85. I wish I’d known at the time — not that we could have attended anything with the COVID restrictions in place — but it feels funny to only discover this by chance now, as my husband was checking the obits for some other name.

Garnet was one of those types who kept the extended family together, staying tin touch with us all and letting us know what the others were doing. He was the only one of Mom’s family I really had contact with. They lived in the same city as we did, Saskatoon, back when I was young. He knew my both sets of parents and how I grew up. Now that he’s gone, I may not have much, or any, contact with my birth mother’s family, which is sad in a way, but life goes on and people get involved in their own family circles. Eventually the extended family fades into the background.

Still, I feel rather blue because so many of these ones who were an important part of my young life have passed away. As a dear friend once said, “We’re at the age now where we go to 50th anniversaries and funerals.” She’s been gone a few years; her husband just died this spring.

And we’re planning a family picnic for our 50th wedding anniversary on August 1st. I trust by then things will have opened up enough that we can have our special event. 🙂