The World Is A Sadder Place Today.....

Today the Beast's Aunt Marge died.  She was 95 and had led a good and mostly happy life.  She was a child of the depression and ended up being raised by a very strict aunt who lived on a working farm.  So she was worked....HARD....even as a young girl.  But boy, did she ever learn!  She was talented in many ways.  She could whip up a four course meal in a kitchen  that was just barely bigger than 6x6 and serve everything hot and dessert was always both simple and delicious.  

She could cook for either small gatherings or big ones.  She loved to entertain and believed in feeding people until they thought they would burst.  She would host games of bunco every week with some of her friends and she always had treats as well as food for these.  I sometimes filled in if one of the regulars was sick or on vacation.  It was always fun.

She was a cleaning dervish partly because of her training while on the farm.  Also she loved having everything around her clean.  Her wash days were always a real *event* because she was so organized.  For years she hung everything on a clothes line to dry.  Then she got a dryer and found out just how much time that saved her.  After that, only her linens got hung out because of the way they smelled when dry.  She ironed as she folded and put things away.  Like I said, she was always, always organized.

She was addicted to money card games.  Oh, usually just a nickel at a time but those pots could get BIG.  She was lucky.  I think she made up many of the games since I have never played them anywhere else nor heard of them even.  But they were fun and easy to learn.  We never visited without taking along a couple nickel holders we got at the bank and knew we would end up losing them all or most of them.  LOL!

She loved crafts and used to make those Reader's Digest dolls as decorations for different holidays.  And Christmas was always a treat at her house.  She decorated like she was a Christmas shop.  It was amazing and she added something new every year.  I taught her how to crochet simple things and she took it from there.  She started to crochet the dresses for her *dolls* she made as gifts.  She also decorated for every Holiday, especially St. Patrick's Day since she was part Irish and had married an Irishman.

She loved her husband and, when he died, she was devastated for a long time.  She kept his picture on her fireplace mantel and often talked to him.  She said he had become the very best companion a woman could wish for and that she missed him every day she lived without him.  

Her daughter moved in with her when her health started to fail her (and her daughter had retired from the Post Office).  Bevie worshiped her mother and took great care of her even when it became difficult.  Others would have just put their mother in a nursing home but not Bevie.  She knew her mother needed to be surrounded by her various collectibles and other things that gave her happy memories.  And, trust me, care for a woman with Marge's health problems was NOT easy on Bevie.  But she loved her mother.

We sent flowers and the Beast will pick up a sympathy card tomorrow to send.  He decided he is not going to attend her funeral (and I think he will regret it) but that's his decision.  His aunt loved him and was more a mother to him than his own mother was.  But he has never attended a funeral that I know of where I have attended many more than I care to think about.  I know how important that last goodbye is.  He didn't go to his dad's or his mother's.  Oh, I take it back.  He went to one but he went because it was his sister's husband that had died.  He wasn't emotionally bonded to her husband but went to comfort his sister.   He was glad he went but that doesn't seem to occur to him right now.

I will miss Marge a lot.  She was a person with a good heart and a happy one.  She has a place in God's good graces, I believe.  Vaya con Dios, Tante Marge.  I love you.

I did talk to my sister, Cee, today.  She answered the phone with...*Well, it's about time!  You've been saying in your blog for a week that you were going to call!*  No hello.  Just that.  LOL!  I got the information I wanted to hear from her and will be seeing her in about two weeks.  I can hardly wait!

My gf, Carol, surprised me again with a gift that really WAS a surprise.  She sent me candles in Mason jars with a handle on them.  She's sent them before but I was shocked that she knew I wanted some since I had used all mine up.  Then I remembered that I had mentioned that in my blog a couple days ago.  It made me feel like I need to be more careful what I say because she will do things like that because I mention it.  It was NOT a hint, Carol but I am very, very grateful.  Thank you.

Well, time to close this missive.  Remember to tell those you love that you DO love them every time you get a chance to talk to them or even if you are just chatting online with them.  Life is short for many of us and you never want to regret not having said it.  A simple *Love you!* works.  ***Hugs***