When You Call, Just Say "Hey"

One of my favorite nephews (he's the son of my cousin, but because of an age gap, was told to call me Uncle) is now a freshman at an Ivy league college--studying of course to be a doctor. I am floored that he had grown up so fast, it seems like yesterday he was teaching me about dinosaurs and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I remember when he was in grade school how he would take a flying leap whenever he would see me, sit in my lap and tell me his newest discoveries--whether it be a new dinosaur or comic book.

When he first came home for a break, he told me all about his new life. His first college keg party, showing up for class hung-over and wearing the same filthy clothes he wore the night before. He talked about running out of money and having to endure dormitory food because he had eaten out every day for two weeks after receiving his allowance. He hated sharing a bathroom (after having his own when his parents designed their home years ago) and worse yet bedroom space. But he had made a life-long friend with his roommate, who bonded with him over a fifth of tequila and a pack of Camel lights.

The thing that impressed me was this boy managed to still get a 4.0!

While he was telling me all this, he remarked, that it was kind of silly to call me "uncle" since he was practically grown-up. He said, he felt we've moved on from Uncle-nephew and were now more like friends. I agreed and said you can call me anything but "asshole", to which he remarked "that's my favorite card game".

His parents reprimanded him when at the dinner table he asked Angel to please pass some dish. I wondered how his father didn't hurt his neck spinning so fast at the sound coming from his son's mouth. His mother's jaw hit the table and her eyes fell out of their socket. He was told to respect his elders and that he would never be too old to call me uncle.

When he recently came back for Spring Break, he seemed a little solemn and a bit distant, not only to me, but everyone around. I thought it was part of the "finding himself" process. He was going thru the dark phase of college life. He was brooding and quiet, pensive and never smiled.

One night during dinner, he quiety left before touching any food on his plate. Since my family is huge, no one really noticed that he left. I excused myself from some irrelevant banter and went into his room.

I asked him what was the matter and he replied that his girlfriend had recently broken up with him. He said the long distance was no longer working and that she hooked-up with some guy in one of her classes.

And then his tears started to fall and he hugged me. He said he didn't understand what the big deal was and why he felt like crap. And then he said it all sucked and he thought the pain was going to go away weeks ago, but it still hadn't. After he poured out his anger and his sorrow, he got tired and sleepy.

Before he drifted off to sleep, he said, "This is why I have to call you uncle huh? You can still make everything better".
I told him he could call me anything but asshole.