My mom's sister

My Aunt Sis died on Sunday evening. Please pray for her--Cecilia Ryan and for her children.

In general, my extended family and I are not terribly close. This wake on Thursday is probably the first time I'll see many of them in about a decade. We were once a close family but in recent years have drifted. When my mother's sister Rita died, the family began drifting apart. I'm not sure what caused this drift but it began a downward spiral that never really healed.

My mother is now 78 years old (dad too!) and has not been in great health for over 25 years (since I was about 8-9). She's been close to death herself on more than one occasion. Unbelievably, she is now the oldest member of her family. She outlived all of her sisters and her youngest brother is the only other sibling left of 9 children.

My mother and her sister were close. They talked nearly every day although she moved to Missouri recently with her daughter's family. She just talked to her the other night and got the chance to say goodbye. I remember a huge fight they once had which ended with them not speaking for about 2 years. I asked my mom what they had been fighting about and she couldn't remember. So she figured if she couldn't remember what the issue was, then they should be speaking. SO she called her and they began to get close once again.

The Irish sure know how to hold a grudge, don't they?

My aunt was nice to me and a good woman. She had two children and a slew of grandchildren. I served as a altar boy in her husband's funeral nearly 25 years ago...so she lived a good deal of her life as a widow. She worked for the phone company for ages and was happy to retire.

Please keep her in your prayers.

MH