SAYING GOODBYE TO SOMEONE I LOVED!

I lost a very important person in my life last week.  My Aunt Margaret passed away on October 19th, at the age of 99yrs and eight months.  While I rejoice in her long and mostly healthy life, I also mourn her very deeply.

This post is dedicated to her memory.

My Aunt Margaret was the eldest child born to my Paternal Grandparents, Charles and Mable Fischer. When she was just 16 yrs old, her Mother passed away, shortly after giving birth to her 11th child, leaving Margaret to care for her 10 siblings ranging in ages from newborn to 15 yrs.  Margaret had help from her 15 yr old brother John, and her 14 yr old brother Joe (my Dad), but for the next couple of years of her young life she was devoted to caring for her large family.

She married a couple of years later, and had her first child in 1937.  Her second child arrived in 1942.  Her first marriage ended in divorce, as did her second.  She married Tom, the love of her life, in 1964; but that marriage ended after only 11 yrs, when her beloved Tom suddenly passed away.

By this time, Aunt Margaret was only 46 yrs old!

My memories of Aunt Margaret go back to early childhood.  She was the Aunt from the "States", that we picked up from the bus station every year.  She was the Aunt that always carried a suitcase filled with Chocolate bars or some other treats for every one of her Canadian nieces and nephews when she visited.  She was the Aunt that always looked like a fashion model, always smiled, and always made me cry when she had to get back on that bus to return home after her visits.

As the years moved forward and I grew up, we continued to see each other every year.  But now I visited her just like she had always visited us.

When I married, we lived within a couple of hours from each other.  We spent many weekends together, and often times she took the bus into Chicago and stayed for a week.

She taught me so much.  She taught me how to make things, she taught me about my family history.  She listened when I was the one who needed to talk, and she never judged.  She refused to take sides, and if she did - you never found out which side won.  She showed me nothing but love, kindness, goodness, humour.  She was my Aunt, but she was also my Mom, when I needed one, My sister, when I needed one, and my best friend, whether I needed one or not!

Most people will remember her first by the creations she made.  Everyone who knew her, has those creations in their homes.  I remember her first for her love, her strength and her goodness.   She was a woman who had experienced much by the time she was 50, and yet she was never cross, bitter or angry.

Life  gave Aunt Margaret plenty of lemons, and yes she made some lemonade, but she also made lemon pie and lemon butter.  She would have squeezed that lemon over her fish and salads until there was no juice left.  She would have scooped out the seeds, used the pulp to polish her copper, dried the rind to make potpourri, and then she would have put the seeds in a pot and grown a lemon tree! That was my Auntie Margaret!  She wasted nothing - not the lemons... not her life!

I see young women today getting all excited about attending  presentations about the Empowerment of Women, given by key note speakers, and I think about my Aunt Margaret.  She was from a generation of women, who were empowered without the aid of rallies, conferences and well paid speakers.

Her empowerment came from circumstances in her life that led her no options but to use her will to survive.  And survive she did.  She became a professional floral designer, a seamstress.  She worked out of the home and in it.  She raised her children, and forged her own destiny, with little to help her but her own determination fuelled by her knowledge of human compassion, and her faith.

She was quite frankly, the best person I have ever known.

This past week has been filled with memories she left with me, memories I have always treasured, and will treasure for the rest of my days.

She signed every letter she sent  -   Love and God Bless, Aunt Margaret.

She was so right - God surely Blessed me by giving me the Love of my Auntie Margaret -  it will never fade in my heart.

And so I say Goodbye to one I loved so very much - We will meet again, of that I am sure!

Rest Well, most precious one -