Good morning everyone.
I must apologize for my lack of blogging this week, it has been a very rough week for us here.
Last Sunday when we were getting ready to head to my niece Naomi’s grade 12 graduation we recieved a call that my Aunt Billie had passed away that morning, we were all in shock. My mom was 12 years old when my Aunt Bille was born, she was the baby of the family with 5 older siblings. Over the years her health has not been good, in fact at just 62 years old she moved into Strathmere Lodge, a nursing home. One of her ailments (Spinal Stenosis) prevented her from walking, therefore she needed quite a bit of care. My Uncle Jim provided as much as he could but it had come to the point where it was just too much for him. They agreed that for the time being she would move there (Billie was positive that with daily physiotherapy and doctor/nursing care she would gain her strength back and be able to move back home) like I said, her health was not good but her death was still a shock. She hadn’t even been in the nursing home a full week. My cousins Amy and Jessi are the same age my older sister Anne and I were when our mom passed, 37 and 39. I know that they have a long road ahead of them losing their mom at such a young age with young children at home, Emma, 14, Luke, 11 and Jacob 4. No one can replace your mom and it is truly sad to lose her when you are still raising your young family, that being said my cousins still have their wonderful father and a large group of cousins that are there to support them.
My mom in heaven must have known that it was time for her baby sister to join her as twice in the last two weeks she told my uncle Jim that my mom (Nonny as Billie called her) had come to visit her in the night, although when my Uncle Jim asked what they talked about she couldn’t remember. Then on the Friday before she passed she told my Aunt Gerry that my mom had come to visit her the day before, that was 3 times in two weeks that my mom had come to Aunt Billie. I think mom wanted to let Aunt Billie know it was okay to join her and my Uncle Ted in heaven, we will never know what she said to her though as she could not remember, only that she had come to visit her.Aunt Billie and Uncle Jim were the ones who first introduced me to Elton John’s music, I can still remember dancing around their living room with my cousins and singing along to the record Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. To this day Elton John is my favourite singer, my music tastes are wide and varied but Elton will always be my #1. Thank you Aunt Billie and Uncle Jim for bringing him and Abba (Uncle Jim was crazy for Abba) into my life as well as one of my go to dinners, tomato macaroni. Aunt Billie, you were deeply loved and will be missed.
Thank you for stopping by today, hug the ones you love and tell them just how much they mean to you, you just never know when or if you will get another chance.
Marcy