My Uncle Eddie was my favorite uncle.

He was my dad's younger brother, not that much older than me, and he was a complete jokester

and cut up.

He was the one who was always playing some practical joke on you or who in some ways

always felt was taking things too far because he just thought everything was funny.

So for instance, if you fell asleep in his house, he might light a match and stick it between your toes and let it

burn down to wake you because he thought it was funny. He called me Bird, which was my nickname,

and we like to listen to music together. We like to watch TV together.

He was never mad.

I never remember him ever disciplining me for anything.

And in fact, when my father and I would fight when I was a teenager,

I would sometimes pack my bag and go stay with him for a couple of days.

And he would never kind of sell me out.

Yeah. couple of days, and he would never kind of sell me out. When I got into college at the University of Notre Dame, I think the only person

prouder than my mom and dad was my uncle Ed.

And when I graduated, my uncle picked out this all-red outfit from head to toe.

He had on a red hat and a red shirt and red pants and these red gaiters.

And he was determined that he was going to show everyone how proud he was of me

by outdressing everyone at the graduation.

And he certainly did.

So we just were always very close. Whenever I would come home, we would get breakfast together

at morgues and just talk about life, and all he would tell me all the time was how proud he was of me.

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