Today in social media land, it is "Throwback Thursday." In my heart, its the birthday of one of my favorite people that lived. She would have been 97 years old today. She was my great aunt Milda. As you can see in this picture of me from the hospital (I was a preemie, by the way, hence the cords and such), we always laughed whenever we were together. I'll never forget the way she always wanted to laugh and have a good time. I wish I could take that memory of that laugh and put it on a CD to play out loud for others to hear. It always makes me happy!
Aunt Milda was a woman whose life is having a generational impact. She was married, but never had any children of her own. She then was a widow. Yet, she never let any of that steal her joy. Her house was always welcome for company and she was a wonderful hostess, making sure that you never left her table hungry. She taught my mom a lot about entertaining, which my mom is passing on down to my sister and me. She showed me grace in action when my sister was born and I had a huge case of jealousy and was pouting in the corner. Instead of scolding me, she took me into her lap and loved on me. She loved the Lord with all her heart. In fact, some of my earliest God memories involve her, whether it was going with her to church or to see a Billy Graham revival. Her faith impacts my life daily. Education was important to her because she was a former teacher, and wanted to make sure that I got an education as well. She was my first pen pal, the first person I got to understand why written words were important. I still have some of those letters I wrote to her as a six year old.
Writing about Aunt Milda is hard for me. You see, even though she died seven years ago, I can still remember our last moments together in the hospital as I told her good-bye. In fact, I have tears streaming as I'm typing. When I was in middle school, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. For ten years, our family watched this intelligent, fun loving, faith filled person pass from our eyes. My mom's sister, my Aunt Gail, had the insurmountable task of being her caretaker during this time. It was hard on her, and hard on me in a selfish way too. You see, during those ten years, I had important milestones I would have loved for her to be there for: high school and college graduations. But because of the Alzheimer's it wasn't possible. After she was moved into a nursing home, I still tried to write to her, especially because I wanted her to know that I was going to graduate school. I went to visit her on her 90th birthday, the last time I heard her laugh. Then, just two months later, the Lord called her home.
When I visited her grave this past summer out in Denver, I realized there are other life milestones I wish she could be here for: The Nurse's wedding, my wedding, if I had children. I would want her smiling face and laugh, celebrating all these accomplishments. But God has a different plan. His plan was that Aunt Milda would have such an impact on my life, that I would then pass her spirit and ways down to the next generation, even if she isn't here in person. Just like she found joy in me when I was a child, I try to find joy and laugh with my students. Just like her faith was important to her, I try to be close to Jesus and also tell others about it. Just like she was a friend to all, I try to include every one. Aunt Milda's life is one that truly demonstrates this verse: Psalm 78:6- "so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children." Happy Birthday Aunt Milda!
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