Uncle Bill

There are moments in your life that you may never forget: getting your driver's license, graduating from school, your prom, weddings, births, deaths, vacations... the list is nearly endless.

One of those moments in my life happened 42 years today, April 6. I remember the moment vividly, because I had anticipated it for several months.

Old Polaroids of Uncle Bill and his new niece Gina, April 1970.

I was standing in the hallway outside the door of my third grade classroom, in line to walk to the cafeteria for lunch.  I'm sure I was chatting with my friends when I spotted my mother coming down the hall, smiling from ear to ear.

It knew IT had happened, I could see the joy on her face and I was filled with the excitement as well.

"It's a girl," my mother told me, confirming the birth of my niece, Gina Renee Esch.

I had become, at eight-and-a-half years old, Uncle Bill.

And I was a proud uncle as well as I passed out bubble gum cigars to my classmates later that day.

Of course, over the years, that excitement has been repeated as more nieces and nephews and now great-nieces and nephews are born.

I feel blessed to be... Uncle Bill.

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