The Allegiance of the Misfits.
Monika Winters-Sanchez
Pat Gaffney or Uncle Pat as I and even a lot of my friends refer to him, is or was one of my most favorite people in the whole world. I say both is or was because at this moment at 2:15pm on Feb 28, 2009 I am waiting to hear if he has passed from this earth. My heart tells me he is gone. My mind wants to hold on to him longer.
I want to tell him how I feel about him. I want him to know that I love him and thank him for understanding me. I want to thank him for accepting me the way I am and not judging me. He didn’t judge anyone. He led a kinda crazy life. I only mostly know the stories. He was born around 1940 and I was born in 1963. We were an unlikely duo.
Me and my Uncle Pat hung out together, we bounced around (as he would say) and ran errands and spent lots of time in diners, I.Hop’s and Dunkin Donuts drinking coffee and talking about life, family and telling stores to each other. We come from an Irish family, so one thing we both have is a gift for the gab and a touch of the blarney.
Uncle Pat was a story teller from way back. He could entertain me for hours telling tales of life growing up in
He was the youngest son of Irish immigrants. There were other children who did not survive so he became the baby by default. He was spoiled and bad and he maybe liked to party a little too much. My grandmother would beat him with a broom when he rolled home the morning-after “Stinking of a Gin Mill”. He would try to crawl in the window so he wouldn’t get caught. There she would be, waiting with the broom, she had an eagle eye, nothing escaped her.
Uncle Pat was always very silly and loved to make people laugh. I think had he had different opportunities he might have made a good stand up comedian.
I wanted to write this story to let people know what he meant to me. How special he was in my life. How at a time when I think we were both very lonely we found each other and became good friends. Me in my 30’s and Uncle Pat in his 60’s. People found it odd, but we were happy in each others company. We laughed at each others jokes and kept each other busy. I knew him my whole life but in 1996 we became friends and that’s where my story begins…
To be continued
