Uncle Alex

Alex is the youngest of my children's uncles.  He would be 29 today, but in my memory he is always 6.  He is the Uncle that none of my children remember because he passed away before they were born, but perhaps they visited with him in heaven before coming down to Earth for their turn.  He is a well loved son and brother who is one of Heavenly Father's valiant sons, whose life's test was over sooner than most.  We are all looking forward to seeing him again, and finding out which brother he looks the most like.  I've heard more than one brother assume that he would have looked like them.

I am Alex' first sister-in-law and had the privilege of knowing him for a little while.  He thought Fox in Sox was a strange book.  It's one of my favorites.  If I remember right, he liked Henny Penny, which I have read to Dan several times and which I think is a bit morbid.  So, maybe our tastes in books weren't exactly the same, but he liked me anyway.

Alex planned a party for his sixth birthday.  I would have been engaged to Derek by then.  He wanted to invite me and Kathy (who was Derek's former girlfriend).  His Mom gently suggested that maybe only Sherie should be invited this time, but I got a good chuckle over it.

Derek and I usually went to his parent's house to visit every weekend.  When Alex would hear we were coming he would run and put his shoes on to prevent Derek from tickling his feet.  It never prevented the tickling however, because Derek was perfectly capable of taking Alex's shoes back off!

One of my favorite memories of Alex is when Mom C. had just gotten home from grocery shopping and was bringing groceries in from the garage.  Mom was wearing a coat (red I think) and Alex had his head up underneath it.  Mom was pretending she couldn't find Alex anywhere and he was giggling up a storm right behind her.  I didn't have siblings that were that much younger than me and I had never seen anything like it.  It was so fun to watch what a good time he was having with such a silly, and simple game.

My other good memory, though a bit harder, is about Alex's good family.  Alex had cancer, and eventually he was very sick.  Maybe because I was not always sure how to act, or what to say when I was with him, I was very impressed with his family.  His brothers and sisters would do whatever they could to keep him entertained and it never seemed awkward to me.  It was just them, being their normal entertaining selves, for their normal, but sick, little brother.

If Alex had gotten to stay with us, what would he be like?  I expect he would be like his other family members.  He would have a good sense of humor, a love of children, and a kind heart.  I expect he is like that as he fulfills his mission in heaven.  And, like his family, he also has a love of our Savior.

Hopefully on his birthday he knows just how much we all love him, miss him, and are trying hard to follow our Savior so that we can be with him again.