Me and My Best Friend, Uncle Mike

How did you learn about friendship?

I learned it through someone who modeled it toward me every day of my life – Michael (Uncle Mike) Frank Sulentich. Although, he was not a blood relative – he was my relative, if you know what I mean.  He and his wife Winnie were from the same small Northern Minnesota town as my mom and dad and both families left that state and coincidentally landed in the same town in Southern California.  We were each other’s relatives, the closest of kin from that day forward. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without growing up with the Sulentich’s.

Winnie and Mike have been a part of every thing that my family has gone through and vice versa.  We shared it all. Holidays. Vacations. Birthdays. Surgeries. Divorces. Births. And now sadly, deaths.

Today’s post, I never wanted to write.  I never wanted this day to come when my best friend Mike Sulentich was put to rest.  He is one of those people in your life who made your life better and loved you no matter what.  How do you ever replace them?

Uncle Mike had been my dad’s best friend up until my dad’s death eight years ago.  In fact, Uncle Mike came right over when I called him to say my dad’s breathing had changed and there he was at my dad’s bedside along with my sister and mom as my dad left this earth for heaven.

So, from that date until Tuesday, March 16 – I took up my dad’s place as best friends with Uncle Mike.  We had a solid friendship before that, but, now I had the top honors and what a honor it was.  He and I were buddies.  And I am so glad that he knew that I loved him.  I have no doubt of that.

Uncle Mike Could Fix Anything That Life Threw His Way

I shared everything about my life with him.  From an early age, he and I just clicked.  As a young girl, I’d often spend time with him in his garage where he would be tinkering on some gadget.  He’d be telling me about what he was inventing and how it would work and I’d tell him about school.  And he always was interested.  As I got older, the things I started to talk about were issues in my life.  Why I fought with my dad?  How come I would get anxiety?  How could I be better at volleyball?  I felt so safe with him telling him scary stuff in my life. He was the type of person that just by being in his presence you felt better.  After I unloaded some hard issue on him, I would leave feeling full of hope. He just always made me feel loved and that I mattered.  I knew that I mattered to him.

I do have a great deal of my mom and dad’s attributes, but I also have a lot of Uncle Mike in me too.  The majority of my skills with tools are from him.  Also, I learned a great deal of management from him as well.  But, more importantly, he taught me about friendship.  I can honestly say, that Uncle Mike in my 40 plus years never once said that he didn’t have time for me. He took everyone of my phone calls and listened to every question or statement I presented.

He was always there for me and my family – no questions ever asked.  “No” was not in his vocabulary when it came to me or anyone for that matter.  And if that wasn’t enough he had one of the best personalities out there-he was a real crack-up. He was just always bigger than life – I really wish you could have met him for if you did you would never forget him.  He was a character with so many wonderful gifts.

And he was loved by all who crossed his path.  He wasn’t perfect by any means.  But in my life he was.  I am so honored, well blessed, that God gave me this wonderful Uncle to teach me about life and friendship. He made everything seem so effortless in life as he laughed his way through it.  He always could find something funny even during dark times.  Laughter was his medicine.  I can just hear him laughing now…there in heaven as he fills my dad in on eight years of jokes that he missed.  The two best friends are together now on earth (their grave sites are near) and in heaven.

He always knew the right things to say to me.  We talked about everything, except one thing.  I regret that I never asked him how to handle life when he’s gone.  We never had that talk because I thought he would be around for some time to come.  This was a sudden death in our lives….but, God has other plans for Uncle Mike now. I bet he’s there in God’s garage, fixing the pearly gates or something else that important.  It just has to be because he was important to so many others in his life and town.

I saw him a couple days before he died and we had a long talk and as usual he was interested in what I had going on.  When we parted he always said these words and he did again that day “Be Good To Yourself.” And with that statement, I’d always smile and say in return “you too” – and then would add “I love you Uncle Mike.”

Those were his last words to me and they were perfect for I truly believe if we ever had that talk about what I was supposed to do when he was gone,  he’d simply say  “take care of yourself.”

I’ll do the best I can, but it will never be the same without Uncle Mike in my life.

Take care my dear friend.  Please know that I am grateful for everything you have done for me, from fixing my cars to my house to my heart.  Also, thank you for all the time you invested in me watching my volleyball games to curling matches.  I will love you forever.

Yours,

Cindy Bindy

This post is part of a series I have produced under the Linchpin title. The Linchpin philosophy is based on Seth Godin’s best-selling book, Linchpin. Linchpins are those people who make a difference in your life.  It is my hope that we all are Linchpins to others during our lifetime.