From the title, you may be thinking I'm a bitter single person that just hates seeing all the lovey-dovey things on February 14. That is not the case. Not only am I not single, even when I was I enjoyed seeing all the happiness and love. The reason that I think that Valentine's Day stinks, is simple, my uncle, Charlie, passed away on that day. Now, this uncle wasn't some magical "other father" to me but he was special. He was the uncle that was always there. Then one day, he wasn't.

I'm not sure of the exact date that he went to the hospital. Honestly, I can't even remember exactly why he was there in the first place. I think that I blocked it out because of how hard it was for me. He was 59 years old when he died. He was put into hospice care and very soon after that I got the dreaded news. My mother was going to wait until I was out of class for the day because she knew I would be upset enough to not go to my next class. My aunt, however, did not know that and sent me a text message about it. That made me call my mother and ask what had happened. I was with my best friend at her office at the time and she ended up leaving work to comfort me. Big shoutout to her boss for that. On the way, I called my sister, which if you've read my other articles you know what happened then but for the ones who haven't, here's the story. She was already at hospice with my aunt and the rest of the family and I knew when I spoke with her that I had to be beside her through this. After that, I decided the best course of action was take advantage of her cooking and her comfort.

After that day, Valentine's Day will never be the same. There's nothing wrong with it, but it is a sad day for my family and me. I still celebrate it, and by that I mean I still eat lots of candy and get excited about whatever stuffed animal I get. The year that it happened, my dad brought home two bears that had hoodies and the year on them. Through his tears, he said, " I thought maybe you and Ashlee (my sister) could put Charlie's name on it to remember him." Which of course made my cry harder but the sentiment was there and much appreciated. I miss my uncle so much but I'm thankful for the time that I did have with him. The memories I have will never go away. Even today there are phrases that my sister and I use that we both get sad about. My aunt and uncle have always called me by my first and middle name. I never realized that something as simple as my name said like that could make me sad but it does.