As improbable as it may seem, I lost my sister Janet while I was still mourning the loss of my son Jon. I was on my way to see my doctor, when a phone call from my nephew informed me that his mother had passed early that morning. Amazing how a simple phone call can change your life. All of a sudden, the sister who held my hand on the way home from school, who woke me up on Christmas morning so that we could open our toys, who typed my papers in high school, took the blame for some of my misdeeds and was always there for me whenever I needed her help was taken from our family, leaving a huge void.
She meant so much to all of us, especially to her son Mike, his wife Julie and their three children, Matt, Josie and Caroline. The mother and grandmother who was always there for them was suddenly gone from their lives. We gathered together following her burial service and watched movies, looked at picture albums and just sat and told stories that put a smile on our faces and tears in our eyes. We celebrated her life as we each spoke as to the meaning she had on our lives, and we silently gave thanks to her spirit above for being there in the good as well as the bad times.
During her life, she fought and beat cancer twice, lost her husband at a young age, and took care of our parents when age and sickness demanded constant attention to their physical needs. She never complained; she was both a “protector” and a “survivor,” up to the day when her battle with her own health issues resulted in her passing. As with the passing of my son, her loss will cause a change in our family, another void, another loved one taken from us. I have always believed that when you have someone in your life that you hold dear, that you take a piece of their love and carry it in your heart. I will always carry a piece of Janet’s love in my heart along with Jon’s and all those who I have loved and lost. I will miss her physical presence, but I will always feel her love for me and for our family.