Last night we received a call that my wife’s aunt was in the hospital. I’m not sure of the details, but I believe she had some liver issues, and her health had deteriorated rapidly over the course of a few days. She was admitted and tests were being done. We went to bed and woke up to a text saying she had a heart attack while in hospital overnight. She went long enough before resuscitation that she may have suffered brain damage. After hastily booking last minute flights, on the way to the airport, we received news that she had died.
My wife, her two siblings, and parents lived together with this aunt and uncle, a long with their two kids, when they all first moved to Canada from Australia. 4 adults and 5 kids in one small house. Even now, my wife’s parents and this aunt and uncle live across the road from each other. To say they are a tight knit group is an understatement. This aunt was very much a second mom to my wife.
To me, she was a beautiful soul, endlessly caring and there to help. From the minute I met her, she considered me family and treated me as such. She was also a complete badass. Incredibly sharp and well read, a retired university professor who spent her days cycling, skiing or throwing heavy books in a backpack for weight and hiking through the hills of central BC. Not bad for someone in their 70s.
It was just a few weeks ago we were all together over the holidays, and I am incredibly grateful we got to spend that time together catching up, laughing, enjoying good meals and good wine together. While I’m glad our last memories are so positive, it also makes her sudden passing very hard to accept. I can still see her in my mind, sitting across the table at my in-laws. She was right there, vibrant, laughing, and now she’s gone.
I have no reason to share this other than to try to find some catharsis by getting it off my chest. But this event did serve as a reminder that tomorrow is never guaranteed, that our opportunities to tell people we love them, or that we are sorry, or what we value about them might not always be there. In a time when divisiveness is high and tempers are short, real positivity can be created in our own little worlds through acts of love, and the opportunities we get to create those moments really are a daily blessing not to be taken for granted.
Thanks to those who read this far. Now go hug somebody.