A year ago today I lost one of the most influential women in my life, my Aunt Laura. This year I realized that I had options for how I would handle this day. 1) I could be “down in the dumps.” You know watch all those sad movies where people die of cancer (Step Mom, My Life, etc.). However, I am not really a watch sad movies to make me feel awful kind of a person, so I crossed this one off of my list. 2) I could ignore the day. 3) I could remember all of the great stories and feel just a little bit sad, but somehow happy. I went with option #3 and decided that it would be worth sharing with you guys.
My Aunt Laura was quite possibly one of the most wonderful women I have ever known, and here are a few things she taught me:
1. While she herself may have been in need of things, she was still the first person to offer the shirt off of her back to another person.
2. No matter how bad you are doing/feeling, there is always someone that is doing worse. You should try to make those people feel better; in the end it will make you feel better too.
Example: While going to her daily radiation appointments, my Aunt would often seek out other patients in the waiting room to lend them an ear or just be supportive. She made friends as easily as blinking.
3. HAVE FUN!!! If you were to talk to my Aunt’s friends you would find that each one of them has no less than 50 stories of funny adventures, and perhaps just as many fun but slightly devious stories.
One of my favorite stories?
One night while visiting her at the hospital, we were watching a romantic comedy and eating some chocolate (you can’t have one without the other). She had one of those fun sized snickers and it had accidentally dropped in her bed when she wasn’t looking. When she got up to walk around a bit we found it and couldn’t stop laughing (think about it… snickers… on white sheets… maybe it didn’t look like a candy bar anymore?). So what did we do? Did we clean it up like the adults we are and act like it had never happened? Of course not, we waited for the nurse to come in and tried very hard not to pay attention or laugh once she discovered the item. All three of us had a good laugh.
4. Look for the best in people. Even if we were to come across a particularly not nice person, she would always find some redeeming quality about them.
5. Do not smoke! My aunt developed her lung cancer after a life of smoking.
6. Laugh at yourself. And not in the “I’m going to laugh first so you can’t make fun of me” laugh at yourself, but the seriously enjoy when you do funny things kind of laugh at yourself.
7. Change the words to songs to make then just a little bit funnier. One of my earliest memories of my aunt consisted of my sister and I in her cool car driving around singing our versions of songs on the radio. My aunt was always super cool!
8. Getting into a little bit of trouble can be fun.
9. Family and friends are the most valuable things you can have in your life.
10. Keep your head up so you can see all the good things coming your way, if you keep your head down in the dumps you don’t know what you might miss.
11. When someone says, “I’ll be right back.” Answer “I’ll be left front!” hehehe always makes me giggle.
This in no way encompasses all that my aunt taught me, nor does it adequately communicate her fun and caring nature. However these are a few of things that make me stop and think twice and I thought they might be worthwhile to you all as well.
