LOST MY FAVORITE AUNT LAST NIGHT

Shanus · ‎05-17-2010

Please no replies since fingers worn out from replying to last several OPs. Just for info, received a call after midnight last night, that my favorite (mid-80's) has passed away. She was funny and always perfectly coiffed, w/ makeup, killer wardrobe and great jewelry and great designer bags. I always looked up to her for her style and zest for life.

This all remarkable because she was stricken w/ polio as a young teenager, placed in "iron lung" and she reached adulthood, after numerous surgeries, went to leg braces, then just a cane. In later years, she became wheel chair bound. Never one to give up, she got dressed in her finery & did makeup every day.

A month ago, she was admitted to the emergency room w/ difficulty breathing (post polio syndrome complications she fought every time she caught a cold). It's been downhill from there. She was sedated and put on a breathing tube & moved to ICU. My flew to NC from San Antonio & we were by her side taking turns. When she contracted MRSA, only few immediate family members in strict protective gear were allowed to visit, so I came home last week and discontinued my weekly visits.

Last night, her son (a physician) found her living will and after a tough discussion w/ his brother, & my uncle (a Holocaust survivor) decided w/ her attending physician to discontinue heroic measures. She only lived 6 more hours.

Her presence, sense of humor and example of bravery in the face of adversity will be sorely missed. Truly an example of a life well lived in spite of all her obstacles. Rest easily, Tante (aunt).

Shanus

dex · ‎03-09-2010

This is a heart for you...I couldn't leave the regular one for some reason.💔

jlkz · ‎12-02-2013

@Shanus

No need for any reply Shanus. My deepest apologies on your heartbreaking loss. She was victorious her whole lifelong. She evidently lived it with grace and power.

My favorite aunt and best friend passed almost 10 years ago and I still miss her. Your first paragraph fits my aunt to a T. She had the most lasting, deepest impression on me since I met her at 13 when she married into my crazy family. We were close until she passed in her early 80's,

There are fleeting moments when I know she is near. Over the years, she has left flowers that bloom when they are out of season and music boxes that play entire songs.

One special gift on the morning of a breast biopsy: as I followed unseen footsteps up stairs to the outpatient floor, I opened the door to the corridor and stepping out from the opposite door was the priest who said her Requiem Mass at which I had delivered her eulogy. He remembered me and her, gave me a blessing and a hug. All this transpired at 6 AM withing a few minutes. ( Biopsy turned out to be calcium deposits. )

May she and her family have peace and treasure her memories.

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
Sir Winston Churchill