Aunt Mary

I was looking forward to getting outside to rake last week, and I finally was able to get outside in the beautiful weather. I was thinking about my Aunt Mary when I was raking up all the dead leaves that were still around from the fall. When I was growing up, my Aunt Mary lived around the corner from our house. She was the family matriarch and my dad's oldest sister. Aunt Mary and Uncle Peter were very loving relatives and took us to the beach and had many great family cook outs at their house. They even threw me a surprise birthday party one year.

I loved taking a walk through the fields and up the hill to visit them.

I would walk with my dog, Missy and when their dog Sparky saw us coming, she would run through the corn fields and meet up with us. The dogs would then chase each other through all the vegetable fields and follow me to their house.

Every night after supper she would be out there raking her yard and doing yard work. She was a fanatic about her yard. It was perfectly landscaped and she was out there to keep it so. As she worked, I would follow her around and talk to her, or read her poetry that I had written. I loved my Aunt Mary because she was one of the kindest people I had ever met, and she also she made me feel so special. She thought I was OK, just the way I was. I always enjoyed my visits with her as we would talk about family and every subject under the sun.

She lived well into her 80's before she died, and when she was in hospice my cousins asked me if I would deliver her eulogy. I was honored to be asked and spent a few days working on what I was going to say. When I was ready with it, she passed on.

This week when I was out there raking, I could actually feel her spirit around me. I pictured myself looking like she was back then with my now gray hair. It has been many years since she died but with my rake in hand, it brings back all the warm feelings of love and all the special memories.

(Road sign is on Cape Cod. We beep everytime we drive past it in her honor.)