Death of an Ant

Actually it is death of an Aunt. Aunt Phyllis actually. But where I am from we have Ants, even if it is spelled aunts.

My Aunt Phyllis died. She was my dad's oldest sister. Since my parents were divorced when I was young (and they were too) I never really knew her.

Those occasions they came down on summer vacation I was focused on playing with the cousins. I didn't really interact with the grownups. We were busy playing hide and seek and freeze tag, running and screaming around my grandparents mini-farm.

Phyllis was a sweet woman, I never remember her yelling at us kids. Just smiling and filling dinner plates. She didn't talk much, she just smiled a lot.

A few years ago I went to visit one of the "baby" cousins, that group that is much younger than the first lot of us.  She was a late in life baby and Phyllis' youngest. She was living with her, in mid-to late stage Alzheimers. I realized how little I knew about her.  What was her favorite hymn? Did she love chocolate?

We sat around the table having delicious lobster and I tried to ask her questions about her life. She had been a secretary before marriage. I asked her if she liked it. She shrugged and said it was OK. I asked her if she liked being married to Roy, and she giggled and blushed and said, "Oh, my". I took that as a yes,

Her passing makes me sad, sad that I didn't know this sweet Godly woman better. I can't say what her favorite color was, or if high heels hurt her feet.  I realized that we take our friends and relatives for granted, that most often we don't KNOW them and they don't KNOW us either.

There is Someone who knows Aunt Phyllis, and Me, and You. There are many Bible verses concerning this, in Psalm, Isaiah, Galatians 1:15-16, and in Ephesians 2:10. I like this one from Jeremiah.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you. Jeremiah 2:5

It is sad that I didn't know Aunt Phyllis better.but it is with happiness I know she is with the One who knows her every thought, dream, longing and has loved her through eternity. I hope someday when I cross to that shore, we can sit down to a cup of tea and actually get to know each other.


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