In Memoriam

My favorite aunt died a couple of days ago. She went to the ocean to swim and watch the sun rise, and then apparently got swept away by a strong current and drowned. There was no one else around and a shrimper found her body in a nearby creek a few hours later. She leaves behind a husband of nearly 30 years, five children and four grandchildren, with another on the way. They seem to be a tight knit bunch, so I can't imagine how they must all be feeling now. She was 47 years old.


I only recently reconnected with my aunt and my cousins, so we weren't all that close, but my husband and I visited her four or five times in the last year and she was always generous and kind and great fun to hang out with. She was outgoing and free spirited and spent her days creating mosaic furniture, enjoying the beach, throwing seasonal parties and spending time with friends and family. She was popular in her small beach community, and I have no doubt that she will be greatly missed by many people.



I was annoyed, and hurt, because she didn't come to my wedding like she promised or write or call to say congratulations, so I stopped emailing her. Now I wish I hadn't been so petty. I always wondered if she was mad at me for some reason, but now I guess I'll never know. I wish my husband and I could have visited her and my cousins one last time before moving to Japan. Maybe we would have if I hadn't been so stubborn.



I like the ocean, but I doubt I'll ever go swimming in it again. This past fourth of July, my husband and I watched helplessly as a man drowned in the ocean not twenty feet away from us and now it's my aunt who's died in the waves. She commented on a blog I wrote about the 4th of July experience and told me about one of my cousin's friends who also drowned. The ocean can be a real bitch.