May 19
At my therapy session today, Dr. Malone was impressed with my progress in this journal, and she asked if it was okay for her to suggest prompts for me to write. Just a little something to help keep the creative process going. It seemed like a good idea. I answered, Go for it.
The first prompt she gave me was easy: just write about someone in my family— what they're currently doing, their habits, their personality, and my overall opinion of them.
Okay, then.
Let's discuss my uncle John.
Uncle John has been logging a lot of hours at the surgery lately, working overtime and filling in for co-workers who took time off. It's great that he's doing what he loves and is getting paid more. Before he got the job, he was mostly living off of his Army pension, and I remember him reluctantly asking Sherlock for a help in paying the rent my first week at their flat. One thing people should know about my uncle, is that while he's kind and helpful, he can also be very stubborn and prideful sometimes. I think it goes back to when he was invalidated from Afghanistan. He didn't want anyone to think that he was some walking (read: limping) charity when he came home, and hardly accepted help, especially not from my mother. But I think living with Sherlock has mellowed him a little about that. He's definitely happier, I can tell, and it doesn't hurt that Sherlock helped prove that his limp was psychosomatic; now he hardly limps at all. It's also good to see that he's making an honest living by himself.
At the same time, though, I miss him when he's at work.
I've mostly been spending my time with Sherlock during the day, and I only get to see Uncle John either if I stay up late at night until he comes home, or on his rare days off. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with Sherlock (most of the time). But still…John is my uncle. He's, well…he's always been there for me, even in those bad times when I felt like no one was. Like I mentioned before, he's kind and helpful. He's warm, caring, loyal, and has a high morale. But he's also not a pushover, and is hard to intimidate. That's probably why Sherlock was so taken with him the first time they met, and became flatmates and friends overnight.
I sometimes forget just how much Uncle John and I have in common, too. Remember how I wrote that he was shot in Afghanistan and sent back to England? Well, after he came back, he was in his own dark place, like where I was when I was in the hospital. He had recurring nightmares about the war. He wasn't eating much. He saw a therapist who recommended he start keeping a blog— much like how I was recommended keeping a journal. At first, he wasn't keen on the idea. Then he met Sherlock Holmes. Now he's doing a lot better for himself. And he's helping me do better for myself, too. Because he knows what it's like to feel so alone, and he doesn't want anyone else to feel that way.
I don't have a lot of family extensive-wise, and the ones I do have are not very…approving of my mother's "lifestyle". And me? I'm just a doomed product of my mother's sinful nature in their eyes. So, yeah…no real love lost there. But Uncle John? Even though he has his own problems, he always made time for me. He loves me for who I am, no matter where I come from, or what's wrong with me. He's probably the closest thing I'll ever have to something like a father.
John Watson is, by definition, the whole package.
The world could stand to have more John Watsons.
With all due respect,
Harley Watson
