The One Who Fills a Void

     One day I was spending time in Benton at my uncle's house like I do often. Me and him were working on a 1948 John Deere G that he had bought in the 70's and is now mine. My uncle is an older gentleman who was never married and never had kids, so I am almost the closest thing he has ever had to a son or grandson. Which after my grandfathers passed away years ago, he really filled the void and became almost more like a grandfather figure in way. On this particular day we were trying to clean up the tractor after it was caught in a flood. My uncle was a truck driver and a diesel mechanic his whole life and has a small shop in his backyard full of expensive tools that had almost all gotten caught in the flood waters. We had already spent days cleaning the shop and the tools. At this point we were both getting tired and discouraged.

Our 1948 John Deere G

I had gone into the house for a drink and when I came back there my uncle sat on the back steps of the house smoking a cigarette looking at the John Deere sitting in the yard. With a half disgusted look on his face he said to me "I wonder how full of water that transmission is?". As he got up off the step slowly, he started to talk about how the last time it flooded in 2011 there was almost a gallon of water in that transmission. As we walked towards the shop to get tools, I noticed that he was kind of mossing along and not quite as brisk in his steps as he normally was. I also realized that all of his hair under his green net back ball cap had turned gray or silver which I had never really paid much attention to before. As we walked, I also realized that his clothes didn't fit tight to his body. Instead his blue dickies button up uniform shirt just kind of hung off of his shoulders and draped down over his arms and torso. He talked as we walked along but it was just kind of a mumble and when he stepped into the doorway of the shop and seen how much mess there was to still cleanup he went silent. He silently walked to one of his red Snap-On toolboxes and gathered up the wrenches and socket driver that he knew we needed. As we walked back up the sidewalk, I took the lead. As we worked on opening drain plugs on the transmission and crank case, he started to tell stories about when he bought the tractor and what work he, and pap had done. As he talked, I watched the worry and depression start to fade out of his eyes a little bit. When he talked about how they had to get the rims off and make a custom tool to do it he almost broke into a smile. I had never known my uncle to have any emotion at all, but with the damage and the loss from the flood I think it was starting to weigh on him heavily. He seemed to be in his happy place as he turned the wrenches and elaborated on all the work he had done on this machine. As ten or twenty minutes passed, I believe he was able to escape his worries about the flood damage and cost of the repairs. I also think that the fact that he was able to repair the tractor and get it running with ease and no expense helped boost his mood.

My Uncle watching the
John Deere G run one afternoon

     As I was getting ready to graduate high school this spring me and him talked often about what I might want to do after I graduated. He helped me make the final decision on the matter of going to college, and which one would be the most cost-effective for me. We had talked about which school would allow me to visit him and my parents on the weekends. Bloomsburg was the best for this because it's close enough that I could commute. I had thought about possibly going in the service instead but had decided not to after talking with him about it. When my uncle graduated, he tried to go in the service multiple times but was turned away because of a health condition. Although when the draft was put in place during the Vietnam War, he was able to go into the U.S. Army. His opinion of the service was a bit brutal but to the point. I see all of his points and they real touched me because I had always looked up to him. I honestly don't know what I would have done with my life if I did not have his guidance. He has taught me a lot and has helped be make a lot of important decisions in my life. I hope that he will be around to help me make many more decisions in the future.