Life Is Like A Vapor

I got a call Tuesday night from my Aunt Liz with startling news. She'd called to tell me that my cousin Alice was in the hospital and not expected to live. This news came as such a shock! I hadn't even heard that she was sick and now she was about to die?!

Sure enough the next day she was gone. A week before she had been fine as far as she and everyone else knew. A harsh reminder to me that tomorrow is not promised to any of us. This is why the bible says that TODAY is the day. We can't smugly rest assured that we have a tomorrow just because things are going well.


A little about my "Aunt" Alice.

Alice was my mom's best friend when I was a child. She married my dad's cousin, Cecil a few years prior to my parents marriage and she and my mother really hit it off. They spent several days a week together throughout most of my childhood. And somehow I grew up calling her "Aunt" even though she was really a cousin.

I'd bet one of the reason that my mom and her became friends was because of her hospitality. Aunt Alice had a way of making you feel welcome in any situation. The way I've always seen her is as a true southern belle. She was always so beautiful with her jet black hair and kind demeanor.

Alice loved children. Be it her grandchildren or a child of one of her friends she always had time to talk to them and give them gifts. Many of my best presents when I was a kid came from my Aunt Alice.


Many people will say good things about someone else once they pass away just because they are gone, but that's not the case here. Monday I was scanning some of my mother's old photos to burn to a DVD when I came across Aunt Alice's photo. My wife happened to be in the room and comment on her and I stopped and was telling her many of these same things I've written here. So what I'm writing about her here aren't some sentimental musings because she's died. It's my true opinion of her and always has been.

I only wish that I had taken the time to tell her how much she meant to me. But I made that arrogant mistake of thinking that tomorrow was guaranteed.

Today we went to her funeral. It was really hard to see her there surrounded by pictures of her great-grandchildren and her beloved Elvis. That woman was a die hard Elvis fan by the way. There were family there that I hadn't seen in over fifteen years or more. Somehow it seemed to make the whole thing seem so surreal.

Alice and her daughters Joan (left) and Theresa (right)

I don't know her exact age but Aunt Alice was somewhere in her mid sixties, which is part of the reason her passing comes as such a surprise. She was always so vital and energetic that I would have thought she'd have outlived most of us well into her ninety's.

On a slightly more positive note, it was really good to see so many family members I hadn't seen in years. Stacey really enjoyed all their old tales about my childhood. And when Joan, Alice's oldest daughter started telling Stacey about changing my diaper when I was a baby and joking about my baby butt I couldn't help but laugh out loud.

One of my cousin's Sheila who's about the same age as I and one of my original playmates gave Stace all kinds of dirt on me. I think it's cute how Stacey ate it all up.

Stacey was very kind and supportive throughout this and I'm very grateful to God for giving me such a sweet and understanding wife. Loosing my Aunt Alice just serves to make me all the more grateful for those that I love.

Aunt Alice, I love you and I'll truly miss you.