I\u2019m a 68 year old woman who grew up in a household with a huge extended family \u2026 my father, had two brothers and six sisters and over the years these people have left an indelible mark on my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I sometimes think that along with Walt Disney these people gave me an impossible understanding of family and relationships. Impossible to live up to that is\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the last several years, the only remaining member of my father\u2019s siblings has been my aunt Marigold, the youngest of his siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is a teacher and a librarian. She is ever the lady. She is the epitome of kindness and generosity with just a taste enough of adventure and bitch. She raised her twin boys, my youngest cousins by herself because her husband made an exit stage left very early in their lives. She did a good job. Her boys are kind and generous, and have great hearts. They are great cooks and often traditionalists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She is currently in hospital dying.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t understand what happened. All of a sudden she stopped being able to breathe well and now they\u2019ve decided that she\u2019s palliative.\u00a0\u00a0My sister says that she is basically in heart and lung failure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has told my cousin that she is ready, that she\u2019s lived a good life and she doesn\u2019t want any extraneous measures taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have gone through this 8 times with her siblings including my father as well as my mother, and all of their partners. Not to mention both of her parents, my grandparents. That\u2019s just on my father\u2019s side of the family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve said it before, and I\u2019ll say it again\u2026 Getting old ain\u2019t for sissies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am not ready for this\u2026but it ain\u2019t about me now\u2026is it? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019m a 68 year old woman who grew up in a household with a huge extended family \u2026 my father, had two brothers and six sisters and over the years these people have left an indelible mark on my life. … Continue reading