When I was a kid, our family gatherings on my mother’s side always included music. Uncle Bob, Grandma’s brother, played old-time guitar or sometimes his fiddle, and Mom played the accordion or piano. Songs were sung in the kitchen or living room while rye and coke were drank at the kitchen table.

Emil would have had something in common with Uncle Bob. As a child, Uncle Bob had polio, which left him with one leg shorter than the other. He had to wear a brace and was apparently unable to participate in the hockey and other sports or games the kids played, so he sang and played instead.

Uncle Bob died not long before Emil was born, and family gatherings have never been the same. I feel fortunate now that Scott’s family functions on his mother’s side also include music and singing. I always think oh, how Mom would love this if she was here. She’d be in there like a dirty shirt, knowing the words to all the old songs.