Every once in awhile you have the good fortune to meet or know someone special. It sounds cliché, yes, but when it comes down to it, how many of the countless individuals you’ve met or known can any one person honestly say that about? A handful, maybe, if that? For me, my Aunt Marianne is one of those people. By most standards, yes, she was special, but for most that label came as an extension of her Down’s Syndrome. Yet, anyone who spent any length of time with her realised that it wasn’t that extra chromosome that made her special, it was her very being – her personality, her faith, her nature.

You see, my aunt has one of those ever delightful, but ever rare unstoppable sunny personalities. In the 19 years I have been alive I can count on my hand the number of instances I have seen her without a smile on her face, or the number of times when something other than loving words have come out of her mouth. She would utter ridiculously over-the-top flattery about you that was nothing close to the truth, but for her, it was. If you were having a bad day, she could make you smile. Even if she had just met you, she would say that you were the most intelligent, nicest, handsomest/beautiful person – and for her, you were. That was the thing that made loving her so easy – because she loved you first. In spite of all your faults, inadequacies, annoyances, everything… she loved you. She thought you were the greatest person in the world, and yeah, she thought that about everyone, but that didn’t make it any less special because in her eyes you really & truly were.
Spending time with her is nothing short of an absolute ball. She has such a silly, fun-loving personality that is impossible to resist. She always said the funniest things, sometimes making sense & sometimes not, but she always made you smile & laugh. Whenever something bad would happen or someone made a mistake she would say, “Oh, pickle soup!” I still remember the first time I heard her say that. My brother & I laughed so hard we cried. Her silliness was so funny & delightful. She was such an entertainer – and a family-friendly one at that! She never let her capabilities stop her. She knew she could not always understand what we were talking about, but that never stopped her from contributing to a conversation. When she said something that didn’t make sense and was made to defend or explain her statements, she would always counter with, “Only God knows.” This would drive absolutely everyone insane, but it was good enough for her and in a deeply philosophical sense, it was true. She may have not understood the depth of her ever so common retort, or, maybe she understood it fully and it was everyone else that couldn’t make sense of it, but it always makes me smile because it is so Marianne and so wise. I find it to be a good testament of her wisdom, proving that intelligence is not always tantamount to wisdom. She always had a great desire to learn, to try to understand things beyond her limitations; she loved books and would read any one she could get her hands on. Often the vocabulary & material would be beyond her level and she wouldn’t be able to understand, but she tried anyway, sometimes even pretending to understand when she didn’t. It didn’t matter to her, though. She loved learning & the learning process too much to bother with whether or not she could. And, to her credit, she never stopped trying. She always wanted to be the pupil, always so eager to learn, but I like to think of her as the teacher. Her persistence, her love of learning, her willingness to love, her devotion to her faith – it serves as a good example for any & all, but I especially hope to better myself from the example she has set.

You might be wondering why I’ve spent so much space writing about my aunt. The truth is, I haven’t written enough about her, and I’m sorely sorry that I’ve waited until now to write about such an amazing person. In December my family had found out that my aunt had a hole in her heart. Well, yesterday her heart stopped and she lost consciousness. She was put on a respirator and a priest was called to administer the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Later she was taken off the respirator and today she died at 11:13. Her death is very bittersweet for me; I’m trying to reconcile my sorrow toward her death with that of the knowledge that God’s plan is the best one. Things happen on God’s time and not my own for a reason, and as long as I can remember that and that God has a plan (and a darned good one at that), I think I’ll be ok. Or at least I hope so. I think I need to do a lot of praying and try to honour my aunt’s life as best as I can. I’ve cried & I’ve mourned and I need to move on.
I don’t know how many people, if any, read my blog, but to anyone reading this: any prayers you could offer up on my aunt’s & my family’s behalf would be greatly appreciated.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - I Thessalonians 5:18