Bachelor Uncle
The only Bachelor Uncle that I can think of is our mother's brother, Charlie. He was single until I was a teenager - and upon some quick research just now, I found he married in 1971 - while I was 15.
Another quick snoop around shows that his wife was one year OLDER than our mom... I never knew this. Hooray for new info!!
He was the FUN uncle! He bought me my first lottery ticket! He bought me my first "maxi-dress" (actually, mom picked it out, but it was from him!) He always had a joke to tell... and he had a working SLOT MACHINE! Oh... those times when he would bring the slot machine downstairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house- He had lived with them until he married at age 41.
But then he met Ginny. She was fine at first. They had a house with a pool - and I remember a party for one of her daughters from a previous marriage - on her engagement. I'm not sure about attending the wedding... I think Ma went- but I don't know if we were invited.
Eventually, they moved into a new home (with too many bedrooms, as I recall)... but Ginny NEEDED room. She NEEDED THINGS. She was a bit of a gold digger -
But that was the first home - including that of ALL OF MY FRIENDS - that had VIDEO GAMES! There's that same old Uncle Charlie! THE FUN STUFF... It was only "Pong" ... but I had never seen it before- and I loved it!
At some point even his niece (my sister) MB was being paid to work there... doing SOMETHING - I'm not even really sure what- I guess that would be a good conversation starter!
Slowly things were falling apart for the nieces. I mean how can you compare a niece to an actual child of HER OWN????
Ginny's influence seemed to be getting stronger- and Uncle Charlie seemed to be acquiescing to Ginny's every WANT.
When Daddy died suddenly in 1975, Uncle Charlie sold Ma a car (since the one I had been driving was totaled in an accident- and the other was a 9 passenger station wagon). It was probably the LAST KIND GESTURE between the two siblings.
Once at Thanksgiving in Waretown, NJ- Grandma and Grandpa's home - she announced at the dinner table which things around the house SHE was going to inherit when they died! She put round stickers on things claiming ... THIS ONE IS MINE WHEN YOU'RE DEAD!
Shortly after, he borrowed a LARGE SUM OF MONEY from Ma (which she really couldn't afford to loan)... and later SWORE he paid her back. It took some quick thinking- and a pretty DUMB brother (and eventually a letter from a lawyer) to get the money back- but that was the end of the relationship.
Ma sent him a note saying... Charlie, I really need you to pay back that $20,000 that I loaned to you. You promised to pay it back, and you haven't paid me a thing! He quickly wrote back - Gloria, you KNOW you only loaned me $15,000 - and enough said.
The letter from the lawyer and HIS OWN CONFESSION forced his hand for payback.
Ginny was done with Ma now hahahahaha
To make a long story longer- many years later (in 2008) Ma was gone, Ken and I moved out of Paramus to Bayville, NJ... The VERY FIRST DAY that I opened the local paper... what did I see????
I was mad and sad at the same time. They were having his wake 10 minutes from my new home... and you can be damn sure I was going to be there.
I walked into the wake. Signed the book (with a name they did NOT know- because they had cut off communications before I was even dating Ken) and boldly walked to the coffin saying nothing to anyone. As I knelt at the coffin, saying a prayer, I could hear the witches behind me whispering... "Who is that"... "I have no clue, I will look at the book"... and finally- "It's one of GLORIA'S DAUGHTERS."
I gave him an air kiss, goodbye and exited the funeral home as quickly as I entered. I had to say goodbye to my favorite Bachelor Uncle, but wouldn't give them a second of my time- or my condolences. They had killed off the real Uncle Charlie years ago.
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