My aunt passed away this morning, so I’m floundering. I didn’t know her well, though she was my youngest aunt – we were always in two different phases of life. When I was two or three and she was finishing junior high. When I was in junior high, she was a young mother on the other side of the country. We missed each other like that for most of our lives; regardless, she was still a part of my family, and my history, and it is confusing to on one hand have the familiar loss, and on the other hand, this present reality…
interrupted
the known rituals –
family gathered, casseroles
caskets and singing –
disrupted by pandemic
a life passes, and… now what?
Not just sorry for the loss of family, but for all those rituals that help cope with that loss. May there be some comfort in knowing that she is resting at peace now.