A Testimonial

John McBride    English   Period-8       21 February 2010

A Relative

My uncle Pat is an interesting man with an even more interesting life; he could be compared to a 15 year old living in a 50 year-old’s body. He has seen the world; growing up in a Navy family, he has lived in many places including Germany, Hawai’i, and Japan. When he was fifteen, living in Hawai’i at the time, he gave his girlfriend a “love” test by telling her he had a rare disease, and that he would soon die. Why he did this, no one is quite sure. He attended the Naval Academy, where he was nicknamed “Animal”, a fairly appropriate name for someone who was famous for chugging Tabasco Sauce. He later got married; he left the Navy, started a family, and brought up son and a daughter. At age 34 he was diagnosed with lymphoma and given a year to live; this experience changed his life for the good. My uncle quit drinking, did some soul searching, and began to pay extra attention to his health; fifteen years later, he is very happy and healthy. Today, he still enjoys traveling and spending time with family; he truly knows what it means to get the most out of life. He jokes around a lot, his favorite one-liner being “pull my finger”, and quite recently, my sister subjected him to a maturity test. My uncle Pat lives life to the fullest, and he definitely marches to the beat of his own drummer; he is a very inspiring man.