November 11, 2025: The Little Circle

Only a few witnessed Day One.

How many people knew you the day you were born? Just immediate family and maybe a handful of others.

But it’s an even smaller circle of those who stayed involved in your daily life. They’re the keepers of stories you can’t remember yourself. First words, first steps, first embarrassments. The people who knew you before you became you.

My Uncle Ronnie (my dad’s brother) was one of those.

Sunday afternoons included lunch after church at my grandparent’s house, along with him and his wife, Aunt Ann. Every Christmas Eve we celebrated together.

Whenever he saw me or my brother Mark, he used his trademark greeting. A loud, happy “Hey Boog!”

I’m not sure what it means or how it started, but the saying became a staple.

One long ago summer I rode shotgun on his Charles Chips delivery route. He didn’t need my help, but he invited me anyway. As a kid, I “assisted” him in organizing the potato chip bins for his corporate customers and helped myself to some of the inventory.

When I think of him, several things come to mind: a heavy set of keys dangling from his belt; his impressive album collection; an immaculate garage. He organized everything.

In 2018, Uncle Ronnie passed away from cancer. And just like that, another Day One was gone. Time has a way of thinning out the original circle.

But I’ll see him again one day.

And I already know the first two words he’ll say.