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| Balloons in honor of my Aunt Judy!!! |
In May of 2010 I began a journey which started as a short one to Jackson, Tennessee. I was taking my Aunt to her doctor's appointment. We were going for some results........about cancer. She and I waited and the doctor kind of nonchalantly told her she had a year maybe two. If she was lucky. It was lung cancer and it was bad. We were sent to another doctor to get ready for radiation.
As we sat in the waiting room she was still kind of in shock. She told me I would need to call her customer's and she began to cry. She had been a cosmetologist all her life. One of those beauty shops like you saw in in the movie "Steel Magnolias." I could see her speaking as Truvy the character who was played by Dolly Parton saying: " In a good shoe,I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight." Or " Oh, honey, God don't care which church you go, long as you show up!" Although it was better if you went to an old fashioned Holy Ghost spirit filled church!!!
As a child I loved that beauty shop!! I could dabble in nail polish,lipstick and make-up till my heart was content. If I talked real sweet she might give me the best thing in the shop .......an ice cold Coca Cola in the little glass bottle. She had a machine at the shop. She always told me "Pretty is as pretty does." As you can tell she was of course the best Aunt a girl could have.
I told her I would call the customers but not anytime soon and I began to cry. She kind of argued "but last year when I had that female cancer and had to call them I would break down and cry." I am in a full blown bawl by now and tell her that I will do anything for her that she needs, but call those people. She is kind of confused and" I said until they tell you that you can't do hair .........why stop." This makes sense and brings us both a little relief. She begins to plan the days she might do hair. My heart is smiling!! She said my customers are my family and they do more for me than I do for them. I don't do hair anymore for the money ..... I do it because I love to spend time with them.
We are told how soon radiation and chemotherapy will begin. This goes by in a blur although I take her some of the time. My cousin, Laura, who is like my sister shares the work. My Aunt was very independent and would take care of herself most of the time.
She had never been married although she had her heart broke once or twice. She had 4 sisters and 2 brothers. Her Mother my Grandmother had lived to be 100. My Aunt Judy was the baby.
She had been a very petite beautiful blonde when I was a little girl. I was lucky enough to grow up in the 60's and 70's and get to shop with her. At one time she had a whole room of clothes. Her favorite color was pink and she liked beads and jewelry. She had the most beautiful hands and nails of anyone I have ever known.
In December she called and said she had been sick with a stomach virus. I told her she would have to go to the hospital. I then called Laura and told her to tell her because ......she's the bossy one. I called her after the Laura call and she was ready to be picked up. At the hospital we found dehydration and her condition was not very good. When she came home we would be meeting with hospice.
She stayed with my Aunt Margaret a few weeks and got stronger to come home. At my Aunt Margaret's we met with the hospice people and learned all the things they would provide. At some point they asked who would be the main caregiver and of all things my Aunt Margaret pointed to me. I was proud she thought I could do it but it scared me to death. I have a child with hemophilia that requires much of my attention so I was having my doubts. I just smiled and signed the papers.
Somewhere along the way we decided that my cousin and I would take food all the time. When she could eat she loved food and would always call and brag on my cooking. She and I would sit for hours when I would drop that food by and talk about everything. When I would walk in the door she would smile that beautiful smile and pat me and say "You sure do look pretty today." Whether I did or not. I could be dressed to the nines or in my pajamas and she would still tell me that. She also told me the most important thing ever, that I was like the little girl she never had. Since she never had children her neices and nephews were her children.
In April she had been getting worse and told me one night that she no longer felt comfortable being alone. Laura and I and her sisters began staying all the time. She passed on April 26, 2011. Her faith was so strong that I know Heaven gained a beautiful Angel.
Today Laura and I will release pink balloons at the cemetery in her memory. We choose to make this day a day of celebration and rejoice that she is no longer in pain. She chose to never let cancer steal her joy or her faith!!! One of the quotes that helped her through was "Faith is not believing God can it is knowing that he will." We Love You!!!!
