My cousin posted that it would have been my Aunt Linda's 70th birthday.....I sure hope she gets to celebrate in heaven......my Aunt Linda was a magnificent human.....I do not say that lightly or casually......she was one of the most magical humans I have ever met......I believe we are gifted with people along our journey that stand out.....the ones that are clearly our people.....above the rest of the folks we journey with......and she was one such person to me.....I adored her....and in the truest sense you can adore a person.....I thought she was beautiful, smart, funny, charming, kind, fun, witty, sparkly......did I mention beautiful.....all of it....and she was all those things and more.....she was an extraordinary woman.......somebody you don't forget easily, and fall for the moment you are in her presence.....she made me feel so loved in this life.....it was her greatest gift to me.....she used to take me to her house in Massachusetts before she had her girls and spoil me rotten with her time and attention......I was the flower girl in her wedding.......and she always cared deeply about everything I was doing..... always making me feel she was so happy to see me and that she adored me too...... she wrote me endless cards....her handwriting was beautiful......I have them all........she was also a writer.....she wrote a lot, and extremely eloquently during her illness.......she died of breast cancer.....she had inflammatory breast cancer.....the most aggressive kind......and she fought valiantly for her life from the moment she was diagnosed till the day it claimed her life.....and losing her was one of the most painful things I have had to face in this life, along with the rest........like somebody extinguished the sun for a moment.....so much so that as I type this my eyes are filling with tears......she was truly remarkable........I had many conversations with her at the end of her life by phone.....and I witnessed her coming to terms with her mortality.......and understanding that the end was nearing, and I heard the peace begin to come and find her......we were kindred spirits indeed......understanding each other and just loving each other so fiercely......my original wedding date was not going to work for her due to her daughter's graduation......and I changed it........for her......that was what she meant to me....and she took credit for the beautiful weather I ended up getting the day that I switched to;-) and when she went into hospice we were all heartbroken......how do you lose such a magnificent and loving human?? One that lights up every room??......and choosing not to go to Massachusetts with my family to watch her pass was maybe one of the only things I have chickened out of in this life.....my heart understood that I could not endure that......and I had already said my goodbyes I felt.....but I live with some regret about that.....not being brave enough to go and see her one more time........I sobbed through most it from afar, and remember where I was the moment I found out she was gone.... her funeral being so hard to get through and the viewing of her beautiful life.......I did deliver a eulogy about her......such an honor to be able to share words about such an amazing woman, my Aunt Linda.....and I struggled to make it through the words.......crying through most of it......but watching the light go out in her was too much for my heart to handle......so today as I type this and let the tears come......I remember her life, like I do so often, and the love, and the gift she was to every single person she met.......EVERY one.....and I will forever be grateful that she was MY person for all those years, and that I was blessed enough to be loved like that by her.......Happy 70th birthday Aunt Linda.....no doubt you are looking fabulous wherever you are, and having the most beautiful and perfect celebration, I will love you and miss you, till we meet again XOXOX
jperuso
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