Acts of Random Kindness to You

First of all, my apologies for being missing in action for so long. It has been a challenging fall. Besides getting back to school, the weekend before returning to work, we had to place my father in a nursing home. For anyone that has not read previous posts, my father is 64 years old and has Alzheimers disease. For over two years, my mother and the rest of us have been with him 24 hours a day. Mom still has several years of working full time and we simply could not keep up as he got worse. He took a fall on Labor Day weekend that scared my mother and that was that. It has not been an easy decision, but I think it is the best one. The facility that he is in is for his specific disease which is nice.

So, the holidays are approaching and financial times are tough. Anyone have any great tips to share as to how they are going to cut back while still getting in the spirit? If so, I would love to hear them. I am going to try and get here more often now that things are settling down. I have read some great books to review and have had some real acts of kindness come my way this fall, so I certainly have plenty to talk about and I look forward to it !

Until next time, remember it is always fun to be kind for absolutely no reason at all.

As a child growing up, I had several biological aunts and uncles. Some, I haven’t seen or talked to in over 25 years, but there is Aunt Lucy on my father’s side and “Aunt” Catherine from my mom’s side that have always been there for me.

The first thing to notice is that I put “Aunt” in quotations in referring to Aunt Catherine. Aunt Catherine was actually a cousin of my mother’s who lost her parents at a young age and grew up like a sister to my mother. Aunt Catherine died a year ago February right before Valentine’s Day.

She had fought the long and hard battle of mesothelioma including having a lung removed that allowed her to live an additional 3 years. I knew I would miss her, but lately it has been an intense feeling of something being missing from my life. She was simply an amazing woman.

Aunt Catherine had little and gave lots. You never went to her home and didn’t get an ice cream cone and more importantly, lots of love and attention. She would have given her last dollar to see her kids get what they wanted. She fought some hard roads including a bitter divorce, mental illness, and then cancer, but she stayed so positive. She was always worried about others. Even in those last weeks, concerned about my mother and father or  her daughter being able to have children.

I sat with Aunt Catherine shortly before Christmas that last year and it was one of the best spent afternoons I can remember. We talked a lot and sometimes when she was catching her breath, we just sat. I was so glad I had taken the time because sometimes I would get too busy and drive by her house thinking there would always be tomorrow.

Her daughter recently told me that the day before she died, Aunt Catherine talked about me and she wished I would reconsider having children. She wished this only because she would not want me to ever be alone in a time of illness or need. Still thinking of others even then, it didn’t surprise me, but it did touch me.

I miss Aunt Catherine, her kindness and compassion that is found in so few these days. If there is an Aunt Catherine in your life, spend time with her or him because it will be over and there you will be “missing” them terribly at the strangest times.