Friday, February 17, 2012. It was 8:04 exactly. I wake up disoriented to the ringing of my cell phone from across the room. I squinted hard through sleep filled eyes to read "Mom" on the caller ID. I knew what I would hear on the other side of this phone call would not be something that I wanted to hear. I will never forget these words, "Daniel...You're Uncle Larry is dead." Numbness. Speechless. Shocked. Stunned. Grieved. I don't even remember the rest of the conversation that we had but I will never forget the week that followed it and the life of a man whom I deeply loved that occurred before it.
My Uncle Larry was a man that was well known in the city of Newport News. Even from the time that he was a teenager, people always talked of his unrealistically good looks, his almost super-human strength, and his fun-loving, caring attitude that knew hatred for nobody. When you hear about a man that would give you the shirt off of his back, Uncle Larry was literally that kind of man. The times that I remember most would be when our family would go and eat at Joe and Mimma's Italian Restaurant when he was working. He would always come out and take my cousins and I into the back and show us everything. We had been back there a million times, but every time he would bring us in the kitchen and show us off to everyone he worked with was more special than the last. He was always loving on his sisters and he LOVED to spend time with his nieces and nephews. There was hardly a time that I can remember when he was not making me laugh. He was just a free spirited man who could find the humor in everything. I like to think I take some of that from him.
As many of you know Uncle Larry had some really hard struggles during the last few years. He fell victim the very easy trap of addiction to help him cope with some hard times, but that does not make him less of a man. In my opinion, Uncle Larry was a remarkable man who made a some bad decisions, like all of us do. It was not easy for my family to see him struggle with his illness. It was actually one of the hardest things that we have ever had to deal with, especially for my grandparents. Because of his condition most of the time over the years, we had not got to spend a whole lot of time with him but we were always available for the right kind of help. Our family spent time constantly in prayer for him and we prayed that if he was not strong enough to beat his illness and if he knew the Lord as his Savior, that God would take him away from his struggle and bring him home. Friday morning, the Lord did just that.
We have heard testimonies from so many people that tell us in Uncle Larry's final days, he not only witnessed to them, but he BEGGED them to give their life to Jesus Christ as he had done. It was his heart's true desire that everyone would turn to the Lord as their source of comfort and strength and not other things as he had done. My last conversation with him was not much different than any other that I used to have with him. He was doing well and he told me how much he loved me and how proud of me that he was. He told me that he had rededicated his life to Christ and he never wanted me to put anything above my relationship with God. We talked about movies and music that we like and we shared some laughs. This time he told me that I was a good man and he was so proud to have been my uncle. I am proud to be his nephew.
So how do we go on living without the man that used to always make us laugh and smile, even when he was driving us nuts and making us mad? What good can come out of losing such an important part of all of our lives so soon? I am already starting to see the answers to these questions. Most importantly, the best thing that happened with the passing of Uncle Larry has been the fact that he is not longer suffering here. He is heaven with his Savior that he adored with all of his heart. I would say that other than that, we have been reunited with my little cousin Alexis. When she moved to Florida, we had not seen her since. I remember before she left, I would go talk to her and Uncle Larry and whenever I would say anything to her, her bashful smile would stretch across her face and she would hide behind her daddy. Whenever she did this he would always say, "Come on, Alexis. This is your cousin, Daniel. Don't be so shy." Alexis was the light of his life and there was never a time you talked to him, where he did not mention her. This past week, after close to 8 years, Alexis came back to Virginia to be with her family. I am very thankful that we had the opportunity to hang out and get to know each other at my Aunt Debbie's Wednesday night. We all stayed up until 3 AM just laughing and talking and making fun of each other. I told her last night that I had a little cousin that I knew nothing about and now I feel as though she never left. She is 14 or 15 now (sorry Alexis, I could not remember which, haha) and I feel as though we grew up together just like I had with my other cousins. It has meant the world to everyone in the family to have seen her again and I know she feels the same. This is something Uncle Larry would want. This is something that I have been extremely happy about and I look forward to growing closer to my baby cousin as time goes on.
Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that the Lord knows the plans He has for us and that is all for good and prosperity and not for evil. I think we forget so many times that in his struggles and the people that he met through them, that God was using Uncle Larry to reach them. They may not have turned their life to Christ immediately or they may not ever, but they were still hearing the Gospel preached and it was being preached by my uncle. God's hand is in everything. His plan for Uncle Larry was fulfilled and He is getting the glory, even now during this difficult time. My Grandpa had to bury his son and I heard him say more than once, "The Lord is good." No truer word have ever been spoken because the Lord IS good. He is merciful and because He is merciful, He brought our beloved father, son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, and friend home and away from his illness. So for now we say goodbye to Larry Dean Stanfield, but for those of us who know the Lord as their Savior as he did, goodbye is not the end.
Uncle Larry, we love you and cannot wait to see you again.
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