PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I remember one day when I was about 10 years old, my mom told me that my great-uncle Ralph was coming to town and that we were going to see him very often. I did not know my uncle Ralph at all back then so I just thought of him as a stranger since I never really met him. I heard stories about his life back in San Francisco where he used to live by himself. He had divorced a long time ago and he did not have a healthy relationship with his only daughter Ana. He was my maternal grandmother’s brother but they did not really see each other very often. Because of Ralph’s “friendly” reputation with his family, I assumed he was not a very nice or social guy. He arrived one day and stayed with my family for a few weeks before he got an apartment of his own. When I met him, he seemed pretty nice to me. I mean, he was polite and overall an “okay” guy. I did not have much opinion about him back then since I was younger and more immature, and like any 10 year old, I just minded my own business and did not really comprehend what was going on in my house. Uncle Ralph was known for his bad temper and he would sometimes scream at me for no reason. I did not understand why he was the way he was. I could not grasp the reason for his attitude towards certain things but I did not try to find out anyhow. Despite that, one of the things he loved with a passion was using his ancient watch to check the time. I would always wonder why he would check on his watch so often as if he was waiting for something to happen or something to change. In any case, I believe he had a pretty successful job back in the United States and perhaps his perception of success back then involved making great amounts of money. However, I believe he felt lonely and sort of lost his purpose once he realized that he had no one left to share his success with. For whatever reason may have persuaded him to come to us could have been the same reason why he glanced at his wristwatch so frequently. I reckon the watch possibly reminded him of the time he wasted earning monetary abundance instead of spending time with the few people that cared for him.