Love and Pride.

Being the discerning 80's trainspotting freak-a-zoid that I am, one would think that the title of this blog is referring to the mid 80's dance pop band KING and their song "Love and Pride". Well, yeah, DUH! (Sike, just kidding.) I'm just getting a litte too obsessed with old-school new wave music videos that I thought I'd never EVER see again. There are so many lost gems out there ... but I digress...

An uncle of mine on my Dad's side was admitted into the hospital a few days ago for some unknown reason (we think it's a stroke). "Unknown" because he's not letting anyone find out what's wrong with him! He actually refused a personal visit from my father who flew here from DC yesterday to see him!!! You see, my uncle's basically a loner -- always keeping to himself. When I was growing up, I remember him being my "preppy" idol with his Lacoste polos and khaki pants. He would give me his hand me downs once in a while and I thought I was oh-so cool wearing them! (Mind you, this was in the late 70's/early 80's.) Anyway, I guess I could relate to him with just wanting to keep to himself. I'm not the one to be sharing my problems with just anyone let alone my own family. Afterall, this past year I shied away from my own folks after I resigned from JetBlue. I suppose because I didn't want them to think I was running back to them (again) when my life suddenly made a sharp u-turn. You could also say that I was a bit ashamed, too, because culturally I should be taking care of my parents as I got older. Needless to say, 7 months later and after countless bouts of depression, I finally made the first steps to say, "Help!" right around my birthday in August. We went out for a birthday dinner and it was like nothing ever happened! They were just worried about me and hoped that I was alright. All of my problems and issues that I thought I had were just things made up in my head that took a life of their own! This all goes to show you that your family will always be there for you regardless. I'm so grateful that I still have them in life. In my "dark days" as I call it in the first part of this year, I fell into quite a lonely existence. If it wasn't for my close personal friends, I don't know what I would have done. I also think if I didn't shut my family completely out, it wouldn't have been so bad. I just hope for my uncle's sake that he know's we're all here for him if he wants it.