I am 47 years old. The day after Prince's passing, my niece, who is now thirty, called me to say she was sorry. This confused me. I think it was partly because we only see/speak to each other occassionally nowadays. You know, everbody's got families, jobs, school, etc.

So I asked her, "How did you know I was upset? Did your auntie(my wife) tell you?"

She said, "Unk--you must have a really short memory. When me and my brother would spend weeks at a time during the summer by yall's house and y'all would take us to the movies, or to go swimming, or to rent movies and fry fish, all you ever played around the house was Prince. You practically force fed me his music in the house and in your car. And you talked about him all the time. I had only heard maybe two or three of his songs before that. So I know this had to hit you pretty hard."

Of course I had to choke back the tears--because I guess I still saw her as my little niece. But in reality, she had grown up to be a sensitive, thoughtful, and compassionate wife and mother.

I had no idea that the time that my wife and I spent with my niece and nephew when they were kids had made such a lasting impression on them.

Listening to my niece rekindle those memories brought me a lot of happiness.

But I think more significantly, hearing her words reminded me that my life is bigger than just me. We are all impacted by others in some way, like with Prince's music. But more importantly, we all have the power to impact others.

My beautiful niece reminded me of that.

So I thanked her and told her that I love her.

She said, "I know--and you know I love you too."

My Sister is not a big Prince fan and she was very sad and emailed me. My aunt lives in Minny is very sad.

2freaky4church1 said:

My Sister is not a big Prince fan and she was very sad and emailed me. My aunt lives in Minny is very sad.

Empathy is a tremendous tool to use to promote healing. Don't get me wrong. I've still been sad. But it's wonderful to be reminded by people we love how important we are to one another.


Everything we do matters.

This was so beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.