Yesterday was one of those days when it's gorgeous outside, (aside from the heat and humidity), the kids are happy for no apparent reason, you get invited to a movie with great ladies, a load of laundry gets done first thing in the morning and then you get some wind taken from your sails.
I realized yesterday that I wasn't going to be attending the funeral of a great lady. My aunt Farris was laid to rest yesterday. She passed away on Monday after a valiant battle with a rare form of cancer. This lady was a little spitfire! She was barely five feet tall and thin as a rail but boy did she have some personality. She would do anything for a laugh, dance, sing, make crazy faces. It sounds like I am making her out to be a saint and although I think she probably could have worn the title well, she wasn't. She had a temper and wouldn't stand for anyone hurting her family. Aunt Farris was the persona of the word caretaker. She would cook, clean, babysit, mow, bake wedding cakes, cut your hair, basically anything that needed done she could do it or would find someone who could. Some would call that over doing it, but I think she never saw it like that. She just loved helping people, making them feel loved. She had one daughter but so many loved her like a mother and grandmother. When I and my brother were in elementary she would pay us a dollar for all our "A's". She would host sleepovers at her house for me and my friends. She had this amazing blue bedroom, with a canopy bed and big blue velvet wing chair, that made you feel like a princess. My brother and I loved staying with her and uncle Sonny, her husband of over sixty years. They were opposites but yet still the same. I guess they balanced each other perfectly. I have such great memories of the fun times we had at their house and going places with them. I am so glad that my daughters had the blessing of knowing her and although they didn't have as many opportunities to be with her often; when we did get to visit aunt Farris made it special. One of the best memories the older girls have is of getting to ride in their classic convertable buick. They thought they were movie stars.
It's hard to imagine going back home and going to her house and her not being there. I worry about my uncle Sonny and wonder what it is going to be like for him. Will he forget some morning that she is no longer there and call out from another room "Yard" (the nickname he gave her when they started dating)? Will he be peaceful and content knowing the she is no longer suffering and she is waiting for him in heaven? That's what I keep telling myself. It hurts to know she is gone but I really am glad she isn't in pain, sick from the cancer and sick from the medicines that are supposed to help. Her mind blurring from the endless hours of hospital visits and treatments. I am going to miss her as will everyone that knew her but I know she is waiting to see me one day and that gives me so much comfort.