Uncle Ron

Last time I had a psychic reading, the first thing she said was, "There's a guy standing behind you making funny faces." I knew immediately it was Uncle Ron. I'd had a few readings before and it was always my dad who showed up. And the psychic had told me once that both my grandmothers are watching over me, too. But this is the first time Uncle Ron showed up. Well, I know why. And I know why he was making funny faces. He is trying to tell me that I need to remember how to have fun -- a skill I've pretty much lost somewhere along the way to retirement. Uncle Ron always knew how to have fun, and he put a lot of happiness into my life when I was growing up. 

One time we came home from visiting some other relatives and found the tree stump in front of our house had turned purple while we were gone! Well, it seems Uncle Ron had stopped by and when he found that we weren't home he waited a little while to see if we would get home soon. While he was waiting he wandered around back into the garage and found a can of paint. (Why we had a can of purple paint in the garage is beyond me.) So he proceeded to paint our tree stump purple. By the time he finished, we still weren't home, so he left.

I don't think it took us too long to figure out who had left this unusual calling card. (This was long before the advent of cell phones.) It wouldn't be anyone else but Uncle Ron. There weren't very many situations he couldn't turn into some kind of a fun time. 

Uncle Ron was taken from us way too soon. He died in an automobile accident while he was still in his 30s. But there's a story there, too. Uncle Ron's son -- Ronald Gene Burford, Jr. -- was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis when he was a baby. He took medications and had treatments and went frequently to a special medical clinic in South Bend, Indiana. (There's another funny story about one of those trips.) Of course, we were all praying for little Ronnie, as were all our church friends -- who were mostly relatives, too. Well, lo and behold, one time when they took little Ronnie to the clinic, the doctors told them that he didn't have cystic fibrosis any more! They had no explanation for it. They knew for a certainty that he did have CF before, and they knew for a certainty that he did not have CF now. And that's all they could say about it. There is no cure for cystic fibrosis, and people don't just outgrow it. At that time, the life expectancy was 10 years. Well... I can't tell you everything I know about it, but let's just say that there are those of us in the family who believe that Uncle Ron made a bargain with God to give his life in exchange for little Ronnie's. Today, nearly 50 years later, that boy is alive and well and has children of his own.