The amount of time I spent w/ Aunt Peggy, the amount of love I have for Aunt Peggy... It's immeasurable, and the loss I feel when I think about never seeing her again will live with me until my life is exhausted.
From my youth, to my teenage years, to my adult years, she treated me like I was her son, and I never took that for granted. From buying a special flavor of Pop Tarts, to making my favorite meals when I popped over just to say hi, to saving baseball cards and giving them to me when I was an appropriate age to appreciate them, Aunt Peggy was an angel on Earth.
We laughed so much together.
We had inside jokes.
We had a bond.
I'm blessed to just think of a holiday and knowing I spent those days with her. Thanksgivings were the best... My mother always yelling at me not to eat all the cheese, and Aunt Peggy cutting up extra cheese because she knew how much I loved it. Making sure that the mashed potatoes were Hungry Jack, and nothing else... and that was a joke that will last forever.
My birthday: Always making me feel special and loved, even as a man in my 30's. A birthday card, every year. To give thought like that is something special, and made me feel special.
Christmas: Aunt Peggy always made sure that if I wasn't full from dinner at one house, I was full at her house... and even went out of her comfort zone to get gifts for me even if she wasn't sure if it was something accurate or not. She always did a great job, and I still have every gift she ever got me.
I could go on for pages and pages, but the main sentiment I want to express is gratitude and love for someone who was important to me. Aunt Peggy helped create the man I am today, along with my other amazing, beautiful aunts. I may not have had a father growing up, but I knew damn well that I was loved... and loved a lot.
I don't pretend to know what happens after we die, but it honestly doesn't matter. Because Aunt Peggy will be in my heart, in my mind, in my memories. She will not be forgotten. I will always bring her name up with a smile on my face and maybe a tear in my eye, because she deserves nothing less.
"you will be mourned and missed, that no one can replace
you, that you have loved and are beloved.
Move beyond form, flowing like water, feeding on sunlight
and moonlight, radiant as the stars in the night sky. Pass
the gates, enter the dark without fear, returning to the
womb of life to steep in the cauldron of rebirth."