A Passing

Sunday night brought at phone call from my dad. That's pretty unusual as he is anti-phone. I had an "Oh No" moment when I saw his name on the caller id. Turns out my Aunt Doris had passed away sometime between Friday and Sunday. It appears to have been a heart attack. I feel immense sympathy for my 4 cousins who are my age and older. Their dad passed when we were very young. Now their mom is gone. I feel bad that they have no parents.

I'm not close with her. However, she was a permanent fixture of my childhood. My cousins Jean and Wade are the same age as me. The three of us would ride bikes back and forth between our farms. They lived just around the square from us. We'd have week long monopoly games and Aunt Doris would give us cookies and kool aid. We'd camp out in the living rooms and fall asleep to the sounds of her distinctive laughter as she and my Aunt Merry did cross word puzzles and smoked cigarettes. Aunt Doris loved game shows and would have them on TV always. It felt wild and forbidden because my mom didn't believe in day time TV. She had an old green car with vinyl seats and no A/C that we'd all pile into for swimming lessons or when she'd pick us up from practice. If we went somewhere and Jean and I lost track of her, we'd just wait for the cackle and we'd be able to find her right away. She collected red glassware from Avon. She was my Aunt Doris.

The funeral is Thursday.