Robert Michael Sagaert

Unc loved nature and music. Car mechanic, carpenter/handyman. He had a charming personality and lit up rooms. His first memory of alcohol was when he was eight, when his grandmother gave him some. He never stopped trying to get that high back.

He would be clean & sober for months or years, but couldn't sustain it. He has three children, and it was painful to him that addiction got in the way. His father physically and emotionally abused him. Told him he was a loser and would never measure up. Such terrible harm, and so undeserved.
He lived to take care of his mother, as he'd promised his father, until she died at 96. After that, he gave up.

My first memory of him is when he brought my sister and me Easter baskets when we were children. Over fifty years later, I still have my bunny from Unc!
I miss his Donald Duck imitations. Self-taught musicianship on guitar and piano. Sharing songs. Working on my house. Phone conversations. His laugh. His many talents. His sense of humor, which only quit while he was drunk, and came back as soon as he sobered up.