goodbye aunt dottie

Last evening as I was writing my blog Bubba's cell phone rang.
It was the nursing home....
our much-loved Aunt Dottie had just passed away.

Abruptly I stopped writing and we headed to Azalealand.
One is never prepared to come face to face with death.
There she lay, her life at it's end....calm and peaceful....no struggle, no more pain.
Together Bubba and I remembered our friend and the good times we had shared.

Not ready to let her go, but not wanting to watch her suffer anymore,
we said goodbye and went out into the gathering night.

Some things I remember...... Aunt Dottie

going to visit you in North Carolina tobacco country
pig pickins
your delicious strawberry garden
the tobacco sheds
picking suppernongs at Emma's house
sitting around that big round table in your kitchen
how much you loved Jake and Eli and Lucy and Harry
you always saying I love you as I closed your door
eating crab au gratin with you at Johnny Harris'
how you couldn't wait to open your gifts
how you liked to eat your dessert right after supper
that you loved me as your own....

All of us who loved you are gathering to say goodbye.
It was most lovely to have known and loved you.

Cathy