It feels wrong to write this. I know in my head that God is sovereign, but in my heart there isn’t room for Uncle Nat to be remembered with stories and anecdotes, impressions and memories. He lived a lot of stories, he left a lot of memories, some big and some small. These are some of the small ones. Memories of a young girl with a really cool uncle.
My first memory of Uncle Nat was more than a memory, it was the feeling of freedom. Before he was a dad, before he was married, he would pile all of us cousins (it was the 90s!) into his little, white, stick shift Toyota. But these weren’t just car rides, Uncle Nat turned them into epic races against fierce opponents with a play by play, no matter how fast or slow we were going. To this day I can still feel the sensation of the acceleration and gear shift in that little white Toyota.
He was the fun Uncle. The one who lightened the mood and actually got our dads to laugh. The only one who spent money on fun! If you know anything about the Kongs in the 90s, you know what I’m talking about. But, everyone grows up eventually and pretty soon Uncle Nat was getting married! It was an exciting time; however, we were apprehensive about change and I distinctly remember one of our cousins conversations where we discussed if he would still be fun after he got married.
Well, if you know Aunt Wanchi now, you can imagine how fun she was to us young cousins back in the day. Uncle Nat now had a shot gun rider, but we could still squeeze in the back. One of those car rides took us to the state fair and to my shock and bewilderment they took us to the rides area! We went to the fair a lot as kids, but never got to go on rides or eat fair food. To my even greater shock, Uncle Nat handed Marianna and I a handful of tickets. I had never had the freedom to choose my own paid fun before this. The freedom felt so wrong I couldn’t even choose! Instead of choosing for us, or riding one with us, he prompted us to pick one and eventually Marianna and I made our way over to the Ferris wheel by ourselves and I experienced another type of freedom for the first time. This may seem silly and small, but to that young girl the impact was significant, and what may seem like a small memory now was a big memory then.
Uncle Nat was generous, and kind. He spent money on us (a big deal in the Kong family), celebrated our birthdays, gave us experiences we would have never had otherwise, but best of all, he took the time to have fun with us!
He continued to have this impact on the family and on us kids as we grew up, even after becoming a dad himself. We also wondered if he would still be fun after becoming a dad (sorry Joseph!). We just didn’t want to lose our Uncle Nat. Our young hearts weren’t ready. But again, he didn’t disappoint. He was still the fun Uncle (and still cooler than our dads).
We still don’t want to lose our Uncle Nat. Our adult hearts aren’t ready, even knowing he is now more free than he ever was chasing cars on a freeway with a bunch of nieces and nephews piled in the back. Thank you for giving us the gift of fun and freedom. We love you Uncle Nat.