Tonight around 8pm, my 93 year old aunt, Mary, passed away. She was my mother's best friend, and last remaining sibling of the six in her family. Auntie Mary taught me to peel potatoes, and make scrambled eggs when I was a kid. She took me to Gone With The Wind, and sent me care packages in college. She loved to laugh, and was always hospitable. As a kid, I loved nothing better than walking over to her house to visit her. She always had pop, and cookies, or a sandwich, or chips, or cake....in short, she loved to feed people and I loved to eat. Her husband, my uncle Charlie, built my first potter's wheel for me.
I feel as if I have gone from a younger generation to the older generation now. My last remnant of childhood is gone. Judy Collins song, Secret Gardens Of The Heart said it so well:
I still see the ghosts
Of the people I knew long ago
Inside the old kitchen
They bend and sigh
My life passed them up
And the world passed them by
Secret Gardens of the heart
Where the old stay young forever
I see you shining through the night
In the ice and snow of winter
But most of all
It is me that has changed
And yet I'm still the same
That's me at the weddings
That's me at the graves
Dressed like the people
Who once looked so grown-up and brave
I look in the mirror
Through the eyes of the child that was me
I see willows bending
The season is Spring
And the silver blue sailing birds
Fly with the sun on their wings
Secret Gardens of the heart
Where dreams live on forever
I see you shining through the night
In the ice and snow of winter
Rest in peace, Auntie Mary. You were loved, and will be missed.
