That is what my uncle said to us when we went to wake him up a week before he passed. He was barely eating or drinking by this point. He could hardly stay awake either. He had covid but none of us knew it because he didn't have any of the traditional signs. But when we walked into his bedroom that morning it was so quiet. He was sleeping so soundly we thought twice about waking him up, but as soon as he heard us rustling around, he whipped the covers off and sat straight up with the biggest smile of his face declaring to us all, "hello world." He was dying, but still found it in himself to smile and be happy.
It's those small moments that you don't take for granted or readily forget. I returned home from that trip with a new appreciation for life and fragility of it. I sat down with my laptop and told myself that I was going to publish this damn book no matter what it took. Uncle Dave would want that, even if not a single person would buy it. I also imagined he would mumble something about "Go Packers" and I would roll my eyes, as a life long Chicago Bears fan and return a "Go Bears." Together we would laugh. We laughed a lot. I miss him.
I wrote the book. I published the book. So, hello world! My name is Christa and I am so excited to meet you and share my writing with you!