Aunt Ann & the Legacy of Love

When I was a little girl, my Aunt Ann was someone I always knew and loved. I knew her first as a young woman who played the piano, encouraged me in my music, and taught me Amazing Grace and many other songs. Thanksgiving and Christmas were always big family events where every family member old and young was present. Ann and my mom and my aunt Reba took turns hosting, and helping out whoever was hosting. All the women contributed their best dishes. As kids, our job was to have fun and maybe help with cleanup (if you were a girl.) I saw Ann at all our family holidays--every Thanksgiving and Christmas and birthday, and many special events. I knew her as a bride, and I became close to the man she married, my uncle Stuart. He's famous in my childhood memories as the uncle who bet me fifty cents that I could not eat a whole turkey leg at Thanksgiving. (I won.)Their children were the cousins I knew the best and saw the most often as I was growing up. Ann was always kind and loving to me. In her unfailing love for her children and grandchildren (and for me, her niece) she symbolizes a special time in my life--a time when we all believed in family first, in forgiveness as a sacred obligation, and in believing in each others' good intentions even when mistakes were made. In her long life, I'm sure Ann made some mistakes herself. I don't what they were. I just know that her legacy is love. I pray that the same will be said of me when my time comes.