My great aunt Winona Mae {pictured above} was one
HELL of a feisty old lady! Her whole life was spent as an ol' spitfire and her family and friends wouldn't have had it any other way {at least I think...
LOL}
She passed away Sunday, March 28, 2010 at 1:50 in the afternoon.
**Note:: This is a detailed account of that day, not so much for everyone in bloggy land, but for myself so that I can remember it whenever I choose to come back in time**That morning, I woke up like any other morning and went out to join the family in the living room-I knew the mood was off the moment I walked out because both my sister and mum had red-rimmed eyes and no one was talking.
I sat down and that's when my mum told me our cousin had called and said Wini didn't have much time left-She was slowly dying. My eyes went wide as my mind went blank; I could feel the tears spilling before I realized I was actually crying.
My mum told my sister and I that she was going into Chicago to be there with our cousin {who was going on 40 hours of no sleep} and to be there with our aunt to say goodbye-I immediately got a bone-deep gut feeling as if I should be there too, so I told her I wanted to come.
Being a Reiki Master, you have the ability to help the transition from this life to the next, so I wanted to do whatever I could for my little auntie Wini to make the process as comfortable and calming as it could possibly be.
So with that goal in mind, we hopped into the car and drove the hour it takes to get to the nursing home she was currently located; after a few wrong turns, we finally got there and hurried to her room.
I'm not going to lie and say I was okay because for one, I was scared to death the whole trip there and two, once I walked into that room and saw her lying helplessly on that bed only breathing with the help of an oxygen machine, I almost lost it {thank goodness I had the common sense to hug a tree before I went in}.
She actually went very quickly-According to our cousin, she had a very hard night but once we got there, she was gone within the hour. When she took her last breath, it was like she was trying to talk to us: her mouth started to move and she tried to swallow. Now, if you actually knew my great aunt, you would wonder exactly
WHAT she was trying to tell us {apparently when she was still 'there' that night, she was cussing out everyone and anyone within earshot}.
When she finally went, my mum and I both turned to each other with knowing eyes and heavy hearts and just said, '
She's gone.' The interesting thing is the three of us felt her passing in three different ways; as her spirit left her body, I felt it's relief to be rid of her pain and suffering (she was transferring into late stage Alzheimer's) and happiness to be reuniting with her family.
She was the last of her generation, so I'm sure she was ecstatic to be going 'home.'
