Happy days.

My neighbour here in our beautiful students apartment building has one of those electric wheelchairs. He and his friend (in a ordinary wheelchair) were at the shop at the same time as me today. They went out just before me and I saw them leave. The guy in the electric wheelchair (not sure if that's the right term..) was going first, and the other guy was holding onto the side and they where rattling along. Well, speeding along maybe, one guy pulling the other along, laughing as they went, avoiding cars and ice left from the snow and rain before the weekend.

It made me think about my uncle, he's been in a wheelchair since he was big enough to fit in one. He's one of my mother's brothers, the youngest of 10 siblings. Haven't seen him for at least a year and a half - he lives far away, up north, not on the island where he grew up but in the city on the mainland, a ferry ride away. I've got two other aunts and one more uncle in that city - only one of each (and their families) left on the island itself now.

My uncle's is... I don't know the politically correct term in English.. is mentally retarded still ok? He funtions as well as a six year old, most of the time anyway. Quite a temper but a nice guy. Always wants a hug.. I even seem to remember sitting on his lap when I was little, but that could just be something I wish I remembered. When we were on the island with my grandparents during summer we (my cousins, their friend Jim, my brother and I) used to play with my uncle's old wheelchair, it was in the garage (big garage, one car, lots and lots of fishing equipment) and we'd take it out on the road (no such thing as asphalt(?) anywhere near there) or the lawn, pushing each other around. Or if my uncle was out using his electric chair, we'd play with it after he'd gone back inside or moved to his regular wheelchair.

Then we'd go see the pigs or the cows or the hens laying eggs, the cat, the dog, go up to the barn or down to the sea, picking shells or going out in the boat to fish. Every time we came back from fishing my grandmother would have made cocoa and we'd have supper. The next day everybody (aunts, uncle, cousins, anyone who happened to be there) would come for dinner and we'd have lots of fish and vegetables, sitting by the long dinner table in the living room. My uncle would sit at the end of the table, my grandparents next to him. My parents, my brother and I (and my sister when she was born) would sit squeezed up against the wall on the other side on soft green chairs.

Today was four years since my grandfather's funeral. My grandmother died six years before him, almost ten years ago. I miss them.. Summer for me will always be summer on the island.

Happy days.