outer-jessie's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Farewell Lost another elder of the family yesterday. This is the third for me this winter, including my grandmother and my cousins' other grandmother with whom we all grew up. [Okay this is not in keeping with the tone I'm going for, but I couldn't resist a rewrite with no terminal preposition: "...my cousins' other grandmother up with whom we all grew." Ta da!] This latest was my great-aunt, wife of my grandfather's brother, old as the hills but as sweet and lively as can be. All her kids look just like her. G lost a great-uncle this winter too, or what in her tradition is considered to be one of her grandfathers. There have been a number of funerals for elders in the community where I work as well. Has this winter seen an especially high rate of elder mortality, or am I only noticing it because it's touched me more? Coupled with the fact that I've been deathly ill more than I've been healthy these last several months, I am beginning to be suspicious. Though I don't know of what. It's just been a rough, sad season. I've been keeping my eye on the weather, looking for any clues that it will be ending soon. One of these days I'll wake up and there will be no more old folk in my family. One of these days it will dawn on me that my cousins and siblings and I have become the family's elders. AAAAIIIIIII! Me first though, since I'm the oldest. Sigh. 10:52 a.m. - 2013-03-03 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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