I love all of my relatives. Off hand I can’t recall a single incident where any of them had wronged me in one way or another. However, on occasion, an aunt or an uncle steps up and makes an impression that has a lasting effect on you as you grow into an adult. My Uncle Kenny was one of those figures in my life.
After I first left the service and was looking for work, he got me my first real job at the National Glass Company. He took me under his wing to show me the do’s and dont’s of cutting glass, repairing windows and fixing screens. He also taught me how to drive a stick. Albeit, I would have rather that it not been in a fully loaded glass truck down Salina Street for my maiden voyage.
My uncle single handedly kept the Chevette that Shannon and I were driving at the time in running condition and this was no small feat. I would get my paycheck on Thursday and Thursday night my uncle would pull the car into the bay at the glass company and repair the breaks or the radiator or the heater or the shocks. You name it and he fixed it at no cost to us other than parts at a time when money was short. Its those type of gestures that describe that sort of man that he is.
This Saturday it was great to be a part of a surprise retirement party that his son Danny arranged. In order to get him over to the firehouse, they told him they wanted him to drive the firetruck — a point to which my uncle later noted “I don’t want to drive no damn firetruck” 
Anyway it was a nice pig roast and I enjoyed catching up with everyone. Here’s hoping now he finds the time to get that record buck!