Upon this Earth, an angel borne

I received a text message from my mother not too long ago. The full script is lost now, but the essence was this:

"Sascha is uncle to Gregorio Jose, born Sunday, the 5th of September in the year of our Lord 2004."

Probably embellished a whole lot there, but what the heck. As an aspiring writer, I suppose I am given my liberties.

Thing is, my family is way across the world. Literally. This, my first nephew by my dearest sister, will probably never grow up knowing his crazy uncle, the one who lives a few oceans away, the one who would share a laugh with his grandmother in (of all places) church.

He'll never get to ask me questions of import to him, and I will never be able to answer him in the fashion that Calvin's dad does, in that now defunct Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

He'd never get to ask me neverending questions of why, and I'll never get to answer him in all seriousness, even if I'm just spinning a yarn which would probably put all tall tales to shame.

That's not too much of a bad thing, really. At least not for him.

Gregorio Jose C. Cervantes, less than a week old 

Sadly, this is a two-way street.

I'll never get to have the adoration of a nephew, nor will I ever get to be around to cheer him on in any of the sports that he'll be participating in.

I won't be able to tease him on his crushes and puppy loves, nor will I be able to bequeath to him the sage advice of the importance of saving the family jewels.

I'll never hear him utter: "Thanks Unc, you're the beast! (or best, whichever fits in that particular instance)"

Truth of the matter is, I'm in the losing end in this one. Still, I knew that moving here involved sacrifices and this fits it to a T.

never thought that it'd be this hard of a challenge.

I just hope, I will still be an uncle worth emulating.

even if it's just through tall tales.