How do you say good-bye to a person you never met? My great-aunt died last week, and I never knew her. My parents made a point of going out to AZ and visiting her about once a year, and my mom called her fairly regularly. For me, it was always "maybe next year."
I'm sad, but I don't feel guilty for not having made more of an effort to head out west to meet her. Perhaps it is selfish of me to think this way, but having not met her, there is less for me to miss. I don't have a mental picture of her, and I don't know the sound of her voice. From all accounts, she was a lovely person (if a lousy cook), and I know she will be missed. She was arty, and I have the hand-painted plates, mugs, and assorted other objects to prove it.
My uncle said that the last time he spoke with her, she sounded tired. She had cancer, and the woman was 93 years old. Her husband had died several years earlier, so I can't feel too sad. It's not as if her life was cut short. She was old and tired, and I don't think there was too much pain, but people want to think that because it makes them feel better - it has no effect on whether or not the deceased did feel pain.
Good-bye, Aunt Ann.
No comments:
Post a Comment