A Great Lady

This morning I got a call from my mom, and I knew what she was going to say before she could let it out. She told me that my Aunt Bobbie, her sister, passed away. We all knew it was coming. She had cancer and this was not the first time. I think the first occurrence was 15 years ago. She was in remission for several years but she fell sick back in June and it turned out she had cancer in her lung. It has been a rough go since June, in and out of the hospital, she was so weak. She really tried her best to hang on. She even went through the Chemo and Radiation treatments again, but it just made her all the more weak. I think she was thinking that if she did that it would bring her back like it did so many years ago, but instead it took her.

My Aunt Bobbie was a great lady. She really cared about everyone in the family and she had this way of making you feel so special. At least, that is how she made me feel. When she would hug me she would squeeze me so tight and her long red fingernails would lightly scratch my arm. I could feel the love force run through me.

Aunt Bobbie left behind her husband, who she married when she was 17 years old, her son and daughter, Jay and Wendi, and her grandchildren, Stephi, Matt, Amy Kait, Ava, and Scott.

It was only a little over a year since my grandmother died, her mother. I started to think about the dreams I had about my grandmother. The first one where my aunt and my mother were there. They both got cancer after that dream. I'm wondering if my grandmother was coming for my aunt? Maybe it was just a coincidence? I certainly don't want to have those kind of premonitions. I would much rather predict the next lottery drawling than the deaths of my family members.

It was weird, the other night my aunt got up and started talking to people who weren't there. I spoke to my friend Tracy who recently lost her father to cancer and she said he saw dead people just before he was going to die. My mom then told me that my grandmother had the same experience. She saw my grandfather and her mother. Do your dead relatives come to greet you when you are just about to go? To let you know that it's ok? I guess that must be comforting to them but it sure scares the living daylights out of me. (no pun intended)

When I lost my grandmother that was so hard. She was 90 years old, but she was a young 90. I spoke to her almost every day. She loved to hear what was going on in my life. I guess she wasn't able to go and do like she used to and so she took pleasure in my stories. I didn't talk to my aunt everyday, but when we did we had a bond that was so strong. I love her, and will miss her very much.

Mean Old Lady

I feel a little ashamed to say this, but I had a run in with an old lady at the supermarket. I mean, you're supposed to respect your elders. Right? I guess she caught me on a bad day.

I was minding my own business, pushing my cart along when I noticed some rolls that were half price. I had walked past them, and thought I should go back and get some of those rolls. So I walked back a little and there she was in her Kmart polyester best. Scarf wrapped around her head to hide the straggly strands of grey matter that she came to know as her hair. She shot me a snare. Then she said in a tone that was so mean, so nasty, "Can you move your cart out of the way so I can get through?" I looked back at her with a shocked look on my face like no you din't!
She said, "That's right" And then I said, "I just picked up some rolls" She looked at me and just when I thought she couldn't get any nastier she blurted out, "Too bad!" That was it, I lost it. I said, "You're obnoxious!" and I didn't stop at that, "You nasty old woman!" I then went off in a different direction, down the oral hygiene aisle to pick up some mouth wash, but the entire time I was thinking I should go back, I should get in front of her again and just block her on purpose. I raced around the market looking for her, I went up the condiment isle, I raced down the frozen food section, but she was gone. It was as if she just disappeared. I finally gave up and went to the checkout.

When I reached home I was thinking that I should feel bad about talking back to the old lady, about calling her an obnoxious, nasty old woman, but I didn't. The only lesson I learned that day was to never buy rolls on sale!