I’ve recently remembered so many snippets of lunch conversations between a departed uncle and my grandparents at their table in a country with corrupt and inept leadership and occasional double digit inflation.

One time that uncle flaked on a plan to take me out in a dune buggy in actual sand dunes, so he made it up to me by taking me out in crazy city traffic in a dune buggy.

He accidentally ripped a bumper off a sedan that tried to turn in front of him. At least three people got out and somehow put the bumper *in* the car while one dude waved him off. They drove away.

Another time I asked him how much advertising value he got out of the full logo wrap they’d done on their truck. He said the advertising was incidental—the real purpose was to discourage car jacking.

When I was young we visited another uncle on that side in a different country. He’d left his home country when his boss was assassinated.

I keep stopping myself from adding other stories to this thread... so many stories that mostly get told at family gatherings where we can laugh in our relative safety and comfort.

Just know that if you’re struggling today because this buffoonery that has deadly consequences is bringing up old pain, you’re not alone.