I hate to say it, but lately I seem to be surrounded by death.
Up until my father’s passing last December, my life was rather devoid of death. Sure, I had lost a pet or two over the years, but I hadn’t experienced any substantial loss. Nor had I experienced any sort of major loss through any of my acquaintances or friends. My Father’s passing in December was the first.
In January, two close friends of mine each lost a parent within 12 hours of each other, one a mother and the other a father. Both were total surprises and well before their time.
A short while ago I got off the phone with my cousin Joel in Cincinnati. His mother, my Aunt Harriet, who’s been in poor shape for a while, finally passed away tonight. I believe she was 77.
I was never close to Aunt Harriet. She came out to visit a number of times over the years and I saw her twice in Cincinnati when I was much younger. When she’d come out, she’d always bring with her a couple of hand baked Cinnamon Kuchen’s, which I absolutely devoured. These things were delicious. I’d ask her to show me how to make them, but she always said it was too hard and took too much time for me to bake. I think she liked the idea that this was her thing that she did for us and that’s fine. She knew how much we liked them.
It was always interesting to see how Harriet reacted to my Father. She idolized and thought the world of him. But as much as she respected my Father, it was her son Joel, my cousin, who meant the world to her. She loved Joel and was intensely proud of him. He knows that. She wouldn’t hesitate to talk him up whenever she could.
Harriet wasn’t an easy person to know, though. She was at times difficult and definitely opinionated. She had her ways and knew no reason why she would have to change. I think once you hit a certain age in life, that’s just the way things are. Once again, that’s just fine. Who am I to say, at the young age of 34, how or what you should do when you’re more than twice my age?
A couple of weeks back I got this strange urge to write my Aunt a hand-written note. I don’t recall what I said, but for some reason I just felt that it needed to be done. I’m glad I did. I hope it brought some small amount of happiness to her.
I’m in New York right now for five days. Three days of business, two days of fun. Being in this foreign place (I haven’t been to New York since I was 17) and getting this news is an odd thing indeed. It’s at times like these you’d kind of just like to be near family and close friends. Alas, that’s not what’s in the cards for me right now.
If I can swing it, I may try to swing by Cincinnati on my way home from New York to see my cousin for a day or two. Or I may fly out in a couple of weeks to say hello. I’ll do what I can. My heart really goes out to my cousin.
