Saying Good Bye

Please forgive the lack of posts these past few days. I haven’t felt much like blogging lately. We’ve been quite busy preparing for the holidays and the onslaught of company we will have over Christmas and New Years. Then this past weekend we got a phone call from my husband’s cousin letting us know that her mother, my husband’s beloved aunt, had to be admitted to the hospital. His cousin thought she had the flu and simply needed fluids, but sadly, it was a much worse scenario. Today we got a very emotional phone call from her letting us know that Aunt D is dying.

My husband is preparing to fly out tomorrow or the next day. We’ve called all of the kids and told them the sad news. They’re very upset. Suddenly the holidays feel more like an intrusion. The Christmas carols feel vastly inappropriate. And excited anticipation has turned to dread. The feeling of helplessness is terrible.

Aunt D is an incredible lady. She was my husband’s second mother. Aunt D lived next door and provided the discipline that my husband’s mom didn’t seem to have the heart to dole out when needed. She was the one that climbed up on the roof and pulled him out of the black tar in which he’d gotten himself hopelessly stuck. She was the one that taught him how to drive. She was the one who picked him up off the ground and brushed him off when he got a little too rough in his game of “touch” football. And she will always have an extremely special place in his heart.

I don’t want to say good bye to her. I’m not ready. I haven’t yet thanked her for helping to raise the mischievous little boy that would eventually become my wonderful husband and my children’s incredible dad. And today I learned I will never get that chance.

Oh how my heart aches.