When I was growing up, I remember my Dad never let me around our uncle.
Dad told me he was a no-good man who was more interested in smoking pot than being a part of the family.
I got to where I never told her when I talked to Uncle Bob because I would get into trouble for hanging out with the pothead, then uncle Bob was a single of our number one relatives, next to our dad. He made me laugh, & talked about Vietnam. He only spent the final year of conflict in Vietnam, & it was after the draft ended. Bob said he volunteered so he could see his friends who were there. He had just passed his internship at the local hospital & she wanted to help anyone he could. I thought Uncle Bob was a hero, but our family lauded him as a pothead who ran away. I often wondered if they knew where Uncle Bob was for that year when they said he just took. Bob said he had helped several guys & women who had served in Vietnam, & marijuana helped him to stop the nightmare. My uncle admitted he had used marijuana as a kid, but not as much as our family made it sound. Since a marijuana dispensary had opened in our town, they could find him there buying marijuana products, even though he also had a medical ID card. He wasn’t doing anything illegal, & he was a fantastic doctor. I wonder if our Dad will ever understand what Uncle Bob went through.