A Tribute to Three Loved Ones

After suffering a massive stroke a few weeks ago, my aunt Jean passed away on Monday afternoon. My heart is heavy because up until then everything was normal life and I’m sure Jean was in the middle of planning many things. She was always on the go and always in the middle of all the fun! She was incredibly talented – she could make or sew anything. She made quite a few outfits for me as a child, made my kitchen valances in my last house, and she even made all the centerpieces for my wedding reception. She was a terrific cook! She was a school teacher her whole life, only retiring a few years ago. Sadly upon retirement, she found herself caring for her finally aging mother (my grandmother), who only passed away just over a year ago. She was giving of herself to those she loved, especially to her daughter and her two grandchildren. She also LOVED to shop and was the BEST gift-giver! We would have a whole another Christmas when we would go visit as a child and to this day she was still thinking of my daughters on the holidays. I will miss her. I am sad the distance kept me from seeing her much in my adult years. I am sad that though she lived a full life, I feel like she would have happily had another 10 years or so. God be with her.

My grandmother Bonnie passed away just over a year ago. I loved her dearly. She was always my buddy when she came to visit. It crushed me that I did not go to her funeral. Of all the luck it was right in the middle of our first trip to Disneyland last summer. I was 1 of only 4 grandchildren so it didn’t feel right not being there. It also didn’t feel right canceling our trip and disappointing my own children. Like my aunt, my grandmother was also always on the go and they both agreed she would rather me be out having fun. Still…. Bonnie was something else. She lived to be 93 years old (she would have been 95 next week) and I think she’d hardly aged at all until she hit her late 80s. In her 80’s she would frequent the local 50+ (that’s what it was called) dance club and she had a boyfriend much younger than her. Though she had been married twice, she told me that for the first time she was truly in love. How’s that for a grandma? In her younger days she played basketball and she too was a teacher. She had the gift of gab and sometimes gave way too much information but I just gotta love her.  She had a great sense of humor and enjoyed living life.  Like my aunt, I wish she had lived closer and I regret also not seeing her much in my adult years.

Then there is my step-sister Robyn. Friday was the 3-year anniversary of her death. She died at the very early age of 31 - way too early to be considered anything but tragic. Robyn spent the majority of her life it seems in internal turmoil, constantly looking for some kind of peace but never really finding it. Robyn’s death was the consequence of her own life choices, an accidental drug overdose. Those that loved her most all agree it was as if we lost her 6 years before she finally left the earth, only seeing her a sprinkle at a time. But her life is still one to be celebrated. Robyn was a teacher by profession – she had a deep love for children everywhere. And children loved her. They lit up around her and she around them. Robyn gave birth prematurely to twins, Gabby and Eddie, who sadly never got to come home from the hospital. She wanted to be their mother more than anything, and in their short life she did a great job and never left their side. It was almost a bit eerie that though her life was cut short, there is great peace with her family in knowing that not only can Robyn now have peace herself, but that she is also now with her children where I think she would want to be most.

Robyn was generally a selfless person. She was sensitive to others in need. She was also the most complimentary person I have ever known, almost to the point of it being a fault, but she made you feel great when you were around her - always telling you how wonderful you are. I think that and her ability to laugh at anything are what people miss most about her. She lived at our house on and off throughout high school. When I left for college, she got my room. That was kind of weird but it was also okay. We just shared the bed when I was home. So even though we led very different lives, I have a lot of great memories of her, especially from my teenage and college years. I wish her life would have turned out differently. She was absolutely beautiful and she had great potential that was not realized in this life.

The good news is Christ lives and so shall we all! We will all see each other again but it’s going to be a long time to wait. I feel a little sad thinking about these three loved ones, thinking about how I don’t want to start saying bye to the people I love. And of course there have been others, but these three in recent history and this week in some way marking the birth or death of each of them. I hope that I can spend some more time fostering relationships as my burdens are slowly lifted. In such a fast-paced world it can be so hard to make time for the important things.

Three little paragraphs just don’t seem enough to note the lives of three people but it helps just to put some of my thoughts and feelings down. Thanks for reading and caring.