RuthAnnHarnisch.com

A Death In The Family

by Ruth Ann Harnisch on 01/16/10 at 3:35 pm

Day 16

A few years ago, for one of my Uncle Sibby’s landmark birthdays, we were asked to write something for a keepsake book.

Heck, I could have written an entire book (remind me to tell you how he helped me become a champion seller of Girl Scout Cookies, introduced me to party politics while I was in kindergarten, and got me started in the newspaper business).

It was difficult to capture on a sheet of paper what influence his life had on mine, but you can see it in my networking.  Uncle Sib had a social network dating back to the 1940s, although nobody called it that back then.  He was rich in the currency of connections and favors.  He had a lot of friends and acquaintances, some of them famous, others more infamous.

Whatever it was you needed, Uncle Sib usually knew the right person to call.  He would do whatever was necessary to help you – and he expected you to do the same when he called on you for something.

If I’ve ever introduced you to someone, gotten you to help someone you’ve never met and never will, talked you into doing something for a good cause, hooked you up with a job, slipped you a few bucks, or taken you to dinner when you needed a meal, you can thank my Uncle Sib.  He showed me that’s how you make your way in this world – helping other people make theirs.

The man who often proclaimed himself The Greatest Uncle In The World made his way to the next world today.

I’m sad.

And I’m reminded that time is short, and in each day, we are creating our legacies.  My uncle’s legacy includes thousands of human connections.

I honor him by mindfully deepening and broadening my connections to others.