Two
weeks ago, I lost my uncle unexpectedly. This was obviously a huge shock,
because he didn’t have anything wrong with him. He had asthma, but it was under
control. It’s things like this that cause me to take a step back, and reorganize
my priorities. I LOVED my uncle. Now a lot of people just think that’s “Oh yeah
I love my uncle too.” But no. My uncle was like a second father to me and siblings.
He didn’t have any children of his own,
and it was just he and my mom, and so I think after my grandparents died, they really
realized that they were all they had in this world at that point, and that only
caused our bond with him to become even stronger. I will always keep on my
phone the texts from him when I was in the hospital. Now I remember when he
would text me in the hospital EVERY SINGLE DAY. And yes at that point I will
admit, I thought it was annoying, “Why couldn’t he just call my mom and ask” I
thought, because for a while, I was in no condition to talk to anyone. But now,
I consider those texts a treasure, which I will never get again, literally.
My
uncle led a pretty spectacular life. He was a state’s attorney for a long time in California. He was also a playwright, a musician, and a singer. His
play the Quiet Man Tales, was a hit in Chicago, got great reviews, and then he
brought it to New York and even to Ireland! He met Maureen O’Hara, and she
blessed his play. No one disliked my uncle, now I may be a little biased, but
how could you? Unless you were talking about politics lol. We had such a
special bond. I told my mom right after I had heard he died, the thing I will
miss THE MOST was sharing my birthday weekend with him. That’s how we have been
celebrating my birthday every year for the past 25 years. With my dad and Uncle
Frank and me, in a joint party. And I’m
absolutely heartbroken that we will never have that again.
My
uncle had a unique bond with all of his nieces and nephews. He had this unique
gift; when he was with you he made you seem like you were the only person in
the entire world that mattered to him. It is one of the amazing traits Uncle
Frank had that I will desperately miss. Everyone was saying at the funeral, how
he was so lucky to have a family that loved him so much, but it was us that
were lucky to have him. There are too
many wonderful qualities about him that I will miss, but if I had to come up
with a top 5 list, it would be: His
humor for sure, his relatability, his compassion, his gentleness, and his
brilliance. He could take an idea and run with it. That’s how the Quiet Man
Tales started. He found a book, realized its significance and ran with it. He
had amazing ideas and he knew how to turn those ideas into a reality for
himself.
At the
party afterwards, at Trattoria DOC(Come on, we had to showcase the Italian side
somehow) I was standing by my dad, who was standing by the bar, talking to the
owner of the restaurant mom, who happened to be one of my mom’s oldest friends,
they’ve known each other virtually since my mom was born. I was standing next
to him, but then I decided to go talk to one of my uncle’s friends. I started
walking towards the tables. And then for some reason I stopped, I don’t
remember why, maybe it was because there was so many people, it wasn’t easy to
move around, but I looked towards the window, and I saw my uncle. He was
talking to two people that I couldn’t see, there were two of them. But what
really freaked me out more than the fact that I could see him, came a few days
later. After I told my mom she had asked me what was he wearing, and I told
her. And then later cleaning out his apartment, she found those pieces of
clothing. He didn’t look at me, he was just standing there talking to two
really tall people, and drinking “something brown”, as he called it. It was
literally just a split second, I turned my face that way, saw him, wasn't
expecting it and so I turned my face back right away, tried to quickly
contemplate what I just saw, then I looked back for him, and three other men
were standing there. I told my mom later sort of doubting what I had just seen,
and she said I came up to her white as a ghost. And then when she told me later
on that she found the exact clothes he was wearing, I was convinced and couldn't have been more thankful.
My
uncle was the greatest man ever! He was a States Attorney for many years, and
he was a playwright and his play The Quiet Man Tales debuted in Chicago, then
went to New York, then it even went to Ireland, had accolades by Maureen O’Hara,
and became quite popular over there. He had another play in the works, and my
mom is going to try her best to get that produced in his memory. He had
finished the final draft, and we found it while cleaning out his apartment. He
was always the first one to text me when I was in the hospital, EVERY DAY to
see how I was doing, and he always prayed for me, and apparently as I learned
the other day, talked to his neighbors about me lol. But the thing that touched
me the most when we were cleaning out his apartment was I had found a one page paper
that I had written in the third grade. It was entitled Francis J. Mahon
Jr. A Dream Come True. It was about my
uncle, and how he had wanted to become a writer since he was about 4 years old.
And how he had made that dream come true for himself. And while I was reading
that paper, I was remembering what the assignment was for. It was supposed to
be a paper about our hero. And he definitely was high on the list. But what
touched me the most was the fact that he kept it all these years. And since I’m
absolutely positive he’s still hanging around, I just want to tell him, “I Love
you so much Uncle Frank! You are the best uncle ever! I will miss celebrating
my birthday with you more than words could ever express. But I know you will always
be watching over me. Xoxo Tape Girl