Aunt #2

My mom is the middle of five girls.  Throughout my childhood, the second aunt lived the closest geographically to us (about a 6-hour drive away).  

Once our two families met partway and attended an outdoor drama.  Then there were the times that Grandma would spend a month with each family during the winter, so we would drive partway (or all the way) to pick up or drop off Grandma.  I remember a trip that was delayed due to snow, and I remember meeting halfway at the (infamous to us) Bean Pot Restaurant. 

One December when I was in elementary school, our parents attended the state Farm Bureau convention in Nashville, and we four girls spent 3 or 4 days with our aunt and uncle who lived an hour north.  We visited our uncle's office, we went to the mall (I remember buying thank you cards in the Hallmark store), we went to the movie theater and watched "Song of the South" with our uncle.  And I'm sure we did plenty of other fun activities.

During high school I remember receiving greeting cards in the mail frequently from this aunt. A few weeks before my senior year of high school, my younger sister and I spent a week with our aunt and uncle.  I remember endless verses of "Just as I Am" at their church on Sunday, and visiting Mammoth Cave, as well as Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historic Park.  I think we went to the movie theater with our uncle, also. 

After our aunt and uncle moved to Florida, our family drove to FL for Thanksgiving twice.  After that, I visited several times over the years ... once I flew in from Japan for my friends' wedding, once some cousins and I met there for a weekend together, when my aunt was in her halo I spent a week helping her (she had lots of jobs for me because she was downsizing), when we were engaged, we stopped by on our way back from the beach with Jim's family and Jim was introduced to her family, etc. (Read: she put on a beautiful Saturday brunch in her formal dining room. She was quite the entertainer!)

When we were in FL for BK's birth, we ate dinner one evening with her in her retirement village, we stopped by to introduce BK to her, BK and I crashed her birthday party at a restaurant, and infant BK and I spent one or two Sunday afternoons with her after Jim had flown home, leaving me in FL waiting on paperwork.  

Jim and I stopped by for a few hours in October 2016 when we were on our way to a wedding, and the four sisters were having a reunion.  Our family stopped by for a few hours in 2018 after another aunt's funeral, and had root beer floats with the three sisters.  The past few winters we have stopped by to visit for an hour or so on our FL vacation.  

I'm grateful I could fly to her burial a few months ago.  The order of service had her fingers all over it, from the liturgy to the Scripture readings and hymns.  She was an excellent Bible teacher & lived by faith.  I want to live by faith until the end also.