Uncle George

Nice photo eh?
That's my Uncle George. He just died last week and his funeral is tomorrow morning. I know - sad - but he was 85.
He lived a good life.
I have two points to make about my Uncle George. First off - he was a simple guy. My Dad's older brother, he left school, as my Dad did, in grade 3. He moved to a piece of land, on a hill across the field after he married my Aunt Josie. It was quite a scandal back in the day but Josie already had an illigitimate son when Uncle George married her - and he raised him as his own.
They lived in the tiniest house I've ever been into in my whole life.
It was one floor - no basement. There was one bathroom, two bedrooms and a kitchen. The whole place is heated by the woodstove in the kitchen - to this very day.
Sometime in the late 1980s they added a living room.
I always thought of it as a shack rather than a house but I LOVED to go there. It had a water heater in the bathroom and a wringer washer - so cool for a city kid to see.
Anyway - I digress - Uncle George and Aunt Josie raised 4 kids and a granddaughter in that house. My Uncle George farmed for 58 years until his pension kicked and and then he just hung out for 20 years.
He was quite a character and like my father he talked to everyone he met, genuinely interested in what they were doing and their stories as much as telling his own.
Also like my father he wore dentures. (Important detail - trust me).
I can remember my mom calling me 20 years ago and telling me about going for lunch with all Dad's brothers and sisters. After lunch, Uncle George took out his teeth and licked them clean AT THE TABLE IN THE RESTAURANT to be sure he would get every last bit!
My mom was horrified!
She told that story well and often.
To me now it shows how much he loved life. He was a happy guy.
You can see that from the photo right?
Why?
Why is there a photo of my happy uncle George which was obviously taken in a professional studio and obviously taken recently? Do all people who are rapidly aging and could die any day have to have a portrait shot taken JUST IN CASE they die so that there is something to show in the paper and on line?
Why else would he have had that picture taken?
He would have had to travel from home (Embro - population 600). Someone else would have had to drive him since he hasn`t driven in a decade. Why would this happen´....
Just a thought while I think of my happy go lucky Uncle George.
I`m sure he`s somewhere entertaining my Dad!