Every kid should be lucky enough to have a fun uncle and Uncle Nat was that uncle. Before he was married, he lived around the corner from us. When he’d show up unannounced, he didn’t knock like a normal person. Instead he’d shout, “Little pig, little pig let me in!” And he’d stand on the front porch huffing and puffing with so much enthusiasm we almost believed he could really blow that door in.
One evening, Uncle Nat showed up at our door and handed me a grocery bag saying, “Happy Birthday.” I opened the bag to find three books; All About Horses, King of the Wind, and The Black Stallion. Then, he handed me the return slip from the library, “Make sure you return these…” he said.
The gift that still means the most to me was those borrowed books from the library. Someone once said that loving others looks like loving what they love and Uncle Nat really knew how to love a young girl that felt guilty about loving anything so worldly as horses.
Uncle Nat’s favorite song was written by a fellow Norte del Rio grad you may have heard of, Lee Greenwood. Norte del Rio doesn’t exist anymore, but to get an idea, it was in the middle of Del Paso Heights. Uncle Nat’s classmates jokingly called him, “Blood.” Out of blood territory came Uncle Nat’s favorite song: God Bless the USA; the thought behind which is that what you love is worth fighting for and worth dying for. Uncle Nat loved his life. He loved giving. And perhaps we should all be lucky enough to go out with our boots on, doing what we love, like Uncle Nat.