Aunt Jane

My aunt passed away last night. She was recently diagnosed with colon cancer. She had surgery but never really recovered from the surgery. I have to hope she is in a better place now.

In some ways she had a pretty sweet life. Never had to work. Never had to worry about money, a roof over her head, etc. But in other ways, her life was somewhat rough. She was retarded. Born premature she received too much oxygen and it rendered her brain damaged. Or that is the theory. So she stopped developing intellectually at around age 12. Maybe a little younger. Part of her knew that she was different. I think that is the saddest thing of all. When a person is retarded and they don't realize they are different, they just lead this happy go lucky life. But when they are intellectually there enough to know that they are retarded, they always have that hanging over their head. Jane knew she was different. It frustrated her. So in that respect, she had a rough life.

I just hope that now she is with her parents in heaven and as Mike said, her heaven is probably just like Disney World (a place she was looking forward to visiting again this spring). At Disney she would ride the boat across from Ft. Wilderness to the Magic Kingdom All - Day - Long . She never tired of it and she would talk to everyone she met. She loved everything Disney. In fact, last Christmas I gave her a toaster. It was a Disney toaster. The toast would cook and Mickey Mouse would be cooked onto the toast and when the toast popped up, it would play that song from the Mickey Mouse Club. "Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E". Anyway, I think that toaster may have been her prized possession. My mother told me one day she was at the doctors and she told the doctor or a nurse that she has a toaster and it talks to her. My mother said they were like, O.....K..... They must have thought she was a nut job. But her toaster really did talk to her!


Jane could be quite frustrating at times. Much like your average 12 year old. But she had a heart of gold. She loved her nieces and nephews and she crocheted every single one of us blankets. They were often crazy blankets. Too long and skinny, crazy colors, etc. But they keep us warm and we loved her for them.

Another hobby of Jane's was taking pictures. She captured all of us over the years. Many times completely off center or minus the tops of our heads. But she got pictures at times when no one else was taking them. So we are grateful for those pictures she snapped through the years.


A couple of years ago she met a man at an adult daycare place she was going to. We did not care for that guy too much. He was, well he was just weird. But Jane loved him and we knew it was good for her to have someone like him in her life. They would spend lots of time together. They had a standing date every weekend at the Baltimore Harbor where they would "greet" the tourist. I am thinking they may have scared some tourist away. But she loved people and loved talking to them. I have no doubt she is probably in heaven taking a boat back and forth between the pearly gates and the check-in point for newcomers. And she will be there greeting all of us when we get to heaven.

We will miss you Jane but we will see you again. Love you!