Aunt Dolly in Florida

I think my aunt is the only woman in Florida wearing a sweater when the temperature is in the 80s and the sun is shining. But that's okay... we cut her some slack because Aunt Dolly is just a few months shy of her 104th birthday. She tells us that her shoulders get cold, and she insists that air-conditioned air is not good for one's health.

My aunt used to live with my cousin S in a two-story home, the stairs of which she would go up and down at least five or six times a day. "For the exercise," she told us. But then she fell in the middle of the night.... not down the stairs, but in her bathroom. Unfortunately, her face hit the side of the sink and she was terribly black and blue. "Someone must have moved the sink," she insisted.

After that fall, her doctor thought it would be a better idea if she moved into an assisted living facility, so someone would always be there and she wouldn't have to worry about stairs and misplaced sinks. S found a beautiful residence for her, filled with gardens and comfortable rooms and friendly smiling aides. Aunt Dolly likes it there very much. She says everyone is so good to her and they like to hear her stories about the family. The only downside, she said, is that "The place is filled with so many old people.... it's sad to see them all at once in one place."  When Aunt Dolly told us that, I resisted the urge to tell her that she herself was not only one of those 'old people' but she is the oldest one living there.

The saddest part of seeing Aunt Dolly was bringing her back to the facility after she spent the day at my cousin's house with us. I must have given her three or four goodbye hugs, and still my eyes filled with tears when I left her room. Aunt Dolly was always the most petite of all my aunts.... small in size, but a giant in personality and authority. Of my grandparents' nine children, Aunt Dolly is the only one left. It makes her sad to think that she has out-lived all of her brothers and sisters. I told Aunt Dolly that God is saving the best for last.