Memory submitted by Kate Cronin

When did you meet Mickey?
1989

Where did you meet him?
Uncle Mickey 🙂 He is my mother, Anna Nardo's brother.

Memory of Mickey
Uncle Mickey was fun. And unpredictable. And kind. I have two favorite memories of him. The first is from a visit my family made to Uncle Mickey and Aunt Sharon when they were still living in Atlanta. Uncle Mickey suggested we go to see Ace Ventura Nature Calls (so this must have been 1995 which would make me 6 at the time). Much to my mother's chagrin, we climbed into the back of Uncle Mickey's truck and went to the mall. Uncle Mickey decided that he wanted to run DOWN the UP escalator which I thought was terribly brave and fun. He and my brother Patrick (my sweet mother very smartly held her 6 year old daughter back) gleefully ran down the up escalator. I think this memory stuck with me because running down an up escalator just seemed like such a perfect encapsulation of Uncle Mickey's personality.

My other favorite memory of Uncle Mickey came years later. I was living in Argentina and involved in an emotionally abusive relationship. My mother was anxious for me and asked Uncle Mickey if he would contact me and maybe talk me through some of my confusion. We didn't know each other very well, (I think it might have been a harder, less helpful conversation if we had known each other very well), but Uncle Mickey helped me sort through a very painful time in my life. I'll always remember him telling me about how much he loved Aunt Sharon and thinking to myself (well I definitely don't feel that about this clown I'm dating).

I'm sad Uncle Mickey is gone. I'm sad for my sweet mother who is grieving the loss of her brother. I'm sad for my Aunt Sharon and my cousin Abby who I have always looked up to.