Saturday, April 16, 2016
Circumstances here in Florida prevent me from being present at the memorial service for my Aunt Mary, so I leave you with this. I will allow it to be read out loud if so desired .
I am Thankful that GOD has seen fit to call Aunt Mary home, for she suffers no more. There are many things I shall always remember about my Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe. In my very young years, all the times I spent at the store in Perth Amboy with Old Aunt Mary and how kind she was to me. Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe's dog SAM, who I played with endlessly even though I was allergic to his fur and my eyes would swell shut, it is rumored that I even ate some of his dog bones with him. I recall playing with the old cash register and pretending to make calls inside the phone booth, walking around with a broom sweeping (if you can call it that), walking up and down the two little aisles straightening the cans of food on the shelves, and I always looked forward to a cold soda from the water filled cooler. The property in Edison, down by the river, known to me as the Bungalow, I grew up with all these years. Whenever I would visit Barb and Gene, who once lived in the Little Red House and now in the Blue House, I always made my way to the river to bring back a rock for my garden. They are all here with me in Florida, to remind me of Home.
Still as a child, every summer, Uncle Joe and I would go down to the Green House and look for the old box turtle he had painted a white spot on , so we always knew it was him. The huge bee hive that was attached to the side of the house there for many years. He would tow me around in the river, in a little blue plastic boat building upon the quality time we shared together, which now I cherish.
You see, I had a different kind of relationship with them , as I had lost my Father at a very young age and they never had children. My Aunt Mary was a very strong minded person, no doubt formed by the influences within her lifetime , I can only surmise in my mind. We are all shaped by things we encounter in life and that is what makes us who we are. As the saying goes, " The Leopard finds it hard to change it's spots". Aunt Mary did do what good she thought was good for those she encountered, her past reflects that, but she was unable to do all things for everyone, who really can ? So it is, we all do what we can, when we can, for as long as we can but thus can do no more. We all have our faults. My Mother instilled in me to Love and Love is what I shall do for as long as I can regardless of what I have to endure to achieve that end. Life is to precious to go through it otherwise. So I will choose to hold on to that which I hold dear of their memories and will let go that which would darken it. So I say, GOD BLESS Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe, now you can walk in the sun, along the river, hand in hand and be near the Bungalow enjoying the things for one reason or another you never got to. Kevin and Connie
