Another loss in Life

It seems like all my entries lately are sad or mad. I guess that's the only time I seem to make myself sit down and write.
I'm working at a fishing camp this week. Two of my kids came, I was so happy to see them. We've got 20 kids between 10 and 15 there. They learn different things about fishing and of course they spend a big portion of the day just fishing. It's been fun. Monday afternoon I got a call right at the end of the day - about 40 minutes until the kids left. I had seen several messages from my mom, but I didn't have my phone on me and so I called back and got my dad. He told me that Uncle Joe had passed away. We knew it was coming, but it still shook me. He told me they wanted to wait until I was home, but apparently one of his granddaughters (my cousin who lives next to me) had already posted it on facebook. That's how Tootie found out. That's how some of the other family found out, too. (They had 6 kids, 17 grandkids, and 19 great-grandkids. That was a lot of people to contact, and they didn't get it done before she posted it. It was a crappy move on her part. I sat on the swing up front and teared up for a minute, then went back in and finished with the kids. Once they were gone I told my friends who were there what had happened. I tried to do it quietly, there were a lot of Wildlife and Fisheries guys there and I didn't want them to all see me cry. Then Angela went to hug me and I stopped her before I completely lost it. I told her that I loved her for it, but I couldn't take a hug right then. Anyway, Uncle Joe - he was one of a kind. When I was a kid I would have told you he was a giant - and he was. He was around 6'5", but probably never weighed more than 160. He was funny. He always had a funny story or joke to tell. He also loved bluegrass music and could play a mean mandolin. I have many fond memories of him, but some of my favorite are of sitting on his backporch feeding raccoons. He had them trained (or they had him trained.) Cornbread was one of their favorites. He never would let me have them climb up on me, because he said they scratched without meaning to, but I would sit on the floor of the back porch and feed the babies while he fed the mama. (They also like Frito's.) His health has been bad and he's been through a lot. Up until last week, he spent the past few months in a nursing home, then for reasons I don't want to go into (because it would become a government/Obamacare rant) he had to go home this week. He lasted 2 days. They were a rough couple of days. Sunday would have been his and Aunt Doris' 60th anniversary. This is how I remember Uncle Joe (and yes that bag says "Bag of Bullshit". It was a little sound box that would say Bullshit when you pushed the button. That was his favorite saying and the only cuss word I ever heard him say. It was a Christmas gift from my dad.)