The Chucks Have It

I recently joined MyBlogLog. What I like about it is people can have pictures of themselves and then when they visit your profile, you can see what they look like (if they have a pic of themelves). It’s more personal when people add their pics to their blogs or to a social networking site like MyBlogLog.

A few days ago I had a visitor view my profile, and he was one who had a pic, which I don’t doubt was of himself. When I first saw the photo, I was taken aback. I don’t know what made me think of my uncle because other than a long gray beard, they really didn’t look alike. And this man who I only saw a photo of had a much fuller beard than my uncle. But even having that realization, a little twinge of surprise and sadness was there.

When I visited his profile and I scrolled down the page and got to the end, I wasn’t even thinking about looking for a name or an age. I was just going down the page as I always do, I guess out of habit. Once again I was taken aback.

I got a little teary-eyed when I saw his name. His name, just like my uncle, is Chuck.

I was always fond of my Uncle Chuck. When I was little, when kids would ask me if I was related to Charles Bronson, I would say “yes”, with a big smile on my face. My last name is Brunson, but they didn’t pay attention to the pronunciation. I got tired of being asked that so I decided to have fun with it.:)

I have an uncle who is a retired pilot. My Uncle Chuck once told me that my other uncle owned an airplane that was in a Charles Bronson movie. He didn’t tell me which movie and I don’t even know if he was being honest with me. But it’s cool to think that it’s possible.

My Uncle Chuck died a few years ago. Before he died, my sister told me that she had had a dream that he had died. I think it was only about a week or two later that it happened.

When I was a foster child, we went for years without seeing each other. I was so glad that he found me. I think he knew that it wouldn’t be long for him. He smoked up until his last day here. He had emphysema. I’m glad he’s not suffering any more.

A man I have never met before reminded me of my uncle. Without MyBlogLog, that may never have happened. I liked what he wrote about himself on his profile. Sounds like a fun guy.

We are all connected.

*I just noticed that Charles Bronson was born on November 3, 1921. My birthday is November 21, 1963 and my favorite number has always been, for as long as I can remember, the number 3. Cool. Come to find out, his last name wasn’t really Bronson. It was Buchinsky. He died of pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.