terrshee's Diaryland Diary

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Small Sadness

A small sadness; my mother's last sibling died today. My aunt Dorothy was quite old and infirm and had been in a nursing home for years. It wasn't unexpected, and it was peaceful.

Mom isn't too outwardly upset. But I think she must feel this deeply. She's been talking about how she feels less tied to life as her friends have gone and new ones are harder to make with declining health and mobility. Family you can't replace, although at times you may want to.

Yet, in a way I sense Mom welcomes it as the ending of one of her last major responsibilities. She was a regular visitor in spite of the distress she felt about seeing her sister in that condition. Ending up in a similar conditon was one of her greatest fears and the constant reminder of it couldn't have been easy.

I'm trying to think about how I feel about this diminishment of my family. On a personal level it isn't a huge deal; I really hardly knew the woman after I was a child. I have one rather good memory of staying at her home for a few days when I was small and breakfasting on fresh strawberries with milk from a pitcher that had the motto "Neither a borrower nor a lender be" painted on it. My aunt was kind to me. I can honor that.

11:28 a.m. - 2005-12-31
0 comments

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

past tense - always tense - future tense