Millie
Back in February of this year, I had a visit to this site from my Aunt Millie. It was a great surprise to discover that she had left a comment on the site and to hear from her after all these years. The last time I had seen her was when she allowed me to stay at her home in Washington for a few days during my travels in the 1980’s.
We had so much to catch-up on, and I was glad that she was interested in corresponding with me via email. Though only fifty-five years old, she was a grandmother now, and the three boys she had raised on her own were now men. She told me that she visited my site every few days, and she was tremendously kind in support of my writing.
I enjoyed the emails we shared. Our correspondance always had a blend of nostalgia along with thoughts on the present and future. The impressions that I always had of her were those of someone upbeat and happy, so I couldn’t help to notice that in many of her emails there was a certain sadness present. She would often apologize for being a “drag” in her emails, attempting to assure me that she was happy, only to share her sadness in later lines. I did my best to understand, and tried to express a positive note whenever the opportunity presented itself. In all her emails she invited me to come visit or to stay with her. I always declined, explaining that I didn’t travel much anymore. After several months of correspondance, the emails from her stopped. I continued to write to her for a while, but eventually I too stopped writing.
Millie was always a little on the heavy-side. Not obese, just some extra pounds that diet and exercise couldn’t shake. A number of years ago, Millie had her stomach stapled. It was a procedure that would finally relieve her from those extra pounds that she had always carried with her. Recently, she was having some problems with the staples, so she went to the hospital to have the problem taken care of. During the procedure she experienced cardiac arrest and died friday morning.
She will be missed.