Funeral

There is always talk about getting together, but rarely does it happen. It takes something like a funeral to make us dispense with the excuses and the procrastination and finally just do it. That applies to me and my siblings as well as me and my cousins. So it was yesterday that three of my sisters (two pictured above) and I travelled down the road to the the memorial and funeral of my aunt Tillie, my mother's youngest sister. 

We met with cousins and uncles and aunts and in the midst of our farewells to our aunt, took some comfort in connecting again with family. We always seem to be able to pick up where we left off, the last time we got together. Everybody has aged, some are not well, some are missing, not be seen again this side of Heaven. 

I first connected with my Aunt Tillie when I attended a boarding school for one year in the town of Rosthern, where she and my uncle had a retail business. Of course, I had known her from the many family gatherings on my mother's side, the Christmas celebrations, Easter, and often summer holidays. But that first year away from home, for me, was a time of loneliness and near starvation. The food at the school was abysmal and my great joy and salvation was the invitations I received from my Aunt Tillie and my Aunt Martha. It was in her home that I ate, felt less lonely, and played with my younger cousins, Carol, Angela, Brenda, and their baby brother, Kenton. 

There was a bond formed during that year, and later, in 1965, when they too moved to BC, we reconnected. It was a few years later, after I was married, that Aunt Tillie trusted me, an amateur painter and paper hanger, to do some work in her lovely home. I am afraid my workmanship was lacking, but she was gracious and supportive, and gave me employment when I needed it. She was a sweet lady, very much like own mother, and always a gracious host when we were in her home. She was loved by her family, friends, and the many people she had met in the family business. We will all miss her. 

The three sisters, my mom, Aunt Tillie, and Aunt Martha, were big on family celebrations and reunions. She would have been pleased to see that so many of us got together yesterday.