Sorry for your loss Albedo.
Yeah, someone gave me a noisy toy as a toddler and my mom told me recently that she couldn't stand the thing and made it mysteriously disappear.
I've never been close to my uncles, but my aunt has always encouraged me in my geeky ways, reading included. Also, my paternal grandpa gave me a pair of boxing gloves when I was like, 3. The story is that a little girl in my preschool kept picking on me, and picking on me, and picking on me, day after day, and I finally decided I wasn't going to take it any more and shoved her against the wall. The teachers didn't even want to punish me because the girl kinda deserved it, but I still got put in time out. My grandpa was on my side, and since he couldn't come sit in time out with me, he mailed me the boxing gloves.
Speaking of uncles, my uncle's pace maker surgery was successful and he's feeling better in that regard. He's now in rehab to build his strength back, but... *sigh* When he's been in rehab in the past it's always been questionable if they've really pushed him to get up and do his exercises or not. The last time he had to be there and they claimed he was ready to come home, someone went out to visit him and he was as weak as ever and they had to really push to get the employees to make him exercise. Long story short, he's not going home unless he can, at minimum, walk himself to the bathroom and clean himself up. My aunt took care of their mother for decades until Grammy passed last year. Aunt suffers from her own health problems, not to mention severe depression. She shouldn't have to, and physically CAN'T wait on her older brother hand and foot for the rest of their lives. The rehab center needs to do their freaking jobs and make him build his strength.