Uncle Ken.

Tomorrow my family is gathering, not for Indiana chili and two-buck chuck, which is what they should be doing. But instead to reflect on and celebrate a life that was full, but undoubtedly cut-short by the pernicious cancer melanoma. A little over six months ago, he was fine - busy, hardworking, adventurous, and always kind. Then what started as a lingering cough turned miserable, made even more miserable by treatment resulting in the physical and emotional exhaustion that only fighting for your life can bring on. And before any of us were even able to get over the initial shock of the diagnosis, were were having to face saying goodbye. Even now, I still hold out for the possibility that there has been some mistake made and that Ken will walk through the door with a fresh caught albacore, ready for his expert preparation with his ultra-sharp kitchen knives.

Although I have heard that it took my aunt Robin quite a bit of persuading, Ken was a great addition to our family and a person you would always want to talk to when occasion would bring us together. Ken was super friendly, but not in overt or annoying way, he knew a lot about a lot of things - deep sea fishing, real estate, travel, tending avocados, cooking (I'm certain that it was from him that I learned to use water and not milk in omelets and scrambled eggs) and many other things I never learned because proportionally, time spent visiting with him generally involved him doing more listening than anything. Few people have the talent of being a really great listener and conversationalist, but Ken was. It didn't matter if you were in high school or a newlywed know-it-all or a stay-at-home mom, he was actually interested in hearing and knowing what was going on. And while good parenting runs in our family, he was an exceptional example of fatherhood and my cousin Tate had a great friend and mentor in his dad. Through Tate, and the rest of the family, Ken's best qualities, experiences and hopefully recipes, live on, as he would encourage and champion us to do.