My Uncle Michael is a great artist. He used to make sculptures and piggy banks and paintings. He is also a talented musician, having played guitar and piano. My Uncle Michael has a big heart, always helping others when they need it. He always has a smile on his face, and he's usually laughing. My Uncle Michael is a great person. Or at least that's what my family tells me. I never met him.
When he was 17, about 30 years before I was born, Michael got hit by a truck while crossing the street and died days later in a hospital. All I've heard about him, I've heard in stories my mother told me. Recently, my grandmother has been giving me things that belonged to Michael: a leather bracelet with his name on it (which I never take off), a bank in the shape of a nickel, filled to the top with nickels my grandparents have been putting in ever since I was born (which added up to 53 dollars and 75 cents), a framed picture of the moon and stars that he made in sixth grade with the words, "The moon and stars, which you set in place" glued onto them in shiny foil. My grandmother says that when they pass, the portrait of Michael they have hanging on their living room wall will be given to me.
I've often wondered, especially now, why there are four children in my family, yet I'm the one who's being given these things? Why am I the one who is being entrusted with my uncle's legacy? My theory is that it's because I remind my family of him. I played the piano and guitar, I share his same personality, I have the same problems as he does. There was a point in my life that I thought I was going to die the same way he did, on the same day, and when that day passed, I felt both relieved and ashamed.
It took a while, but I came to the realization that I am not my uncle. I may be like him; I may have his smile or his eagerness to help others, but I do not share his problems.
When I think of my Uncle Michael, I think of the stories told by my family about him. About how he was always eager to help, always smiling. How he touched so many lives in his time. I want to be more like him, and I try to every day. Upholding his legacy is a challenge I'm willing and glad to take on. I never met my Uncle Michael, but he has undoubtedly shaped my life and made me who I am today. He set the moon in stars in place for me to blaze a path.
