Uncle Gray

My Uncle Grayson was a character.  Come to think of it, I come from a long line of characters!  Always fun to be around, Uncle Gray was larger than life.  A couple of times a year, I spent the day with my cousin, Gene.  His dad, Uncle Gray, reminded me at supper that I should be a member of the “Clean Plate Club.”  They always had Nestle’s Quick on hand - a real treat for me.  Uncle Gray was good at pruning vines and fruit trees.  He would come over to our house and prune my dad’s grape vines and apple trees.  At church, Uncle Gray had one of those thick vinyl change purses that you squeezed open to put your change into.  He would shake it for us kids and say, “If you can guess how much change is inside -exactly - you can have it.”  Often, he would give a tiny squeeze to give us a little glimpse of the coins inside.  I don’t think anyone ever got the money.  Solomon said in Proverbs 17:22, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”  Uncle Gray had a pleasant personality and was a man that I liked to be around.  I would rather be like Uncle Gray than to be a sour old man.  May it be so!