RIP Aunt Mary

I finished Season 1 of The Handmaid's Tale, and I did tell myself I would blog up some thoughts after I finished. I still intend/hope to, but I'm just not in a writing mood right now.

I did want to mention that my Aunt Mary, my dad's older sister, passed away August 26. And because I'm not in a writing mood, and because it is a beautiful tribute, I will just leave this post with a poem my Uncle Tony wrote:

INCIDENTS

When I was so very young and tiny and small,

In my chair so high, a blur of faces, my own full of needing,

You carried me. “Don’t be afraid.” You broke my Fall.

Dreaming in my room, so far from yours across the ghostly hall, 

Refuge I sought in your bed’s safe haven, arresting my pleading.

When I was so very young and tiny and small.

That Halloween night, my first in so frosty a fall,

Bear’s head on a wall. Bared teeth. Distant fears would be breeding.

You carried me. “Don’t be afraid.” You broke my Fall.

High in a cherry tree, you slipped, leg ripped by the fall.

“My sister’s hurt”! Hurt! My big sister is bleeding!”

When I was so very young and tiny and small.

Years voyaged by; too many; too soon; too hard to recall.

Through a glass darkly, your Shadow dissolves and is receding.

You carried me. “Don’t be afraid.” You broke my Fall.

Sudden turn. NO! The Abyss comes to call.

“My sister’s bleeding; my big sister lies a' bleeding!”

When I was so very young and tiny and small.

You carry me still, but I could not break your Fall.

The oldest of 7 children. My aunt Mary is front, second fro left, with my dad on the far left next to her.