A few days ago, Aunt Mary (my maternal aunt and godmother) lost her year-and-a-half long battle with cancer. Since we were told at the end of April that she'd been started on "end of life" procedures (she was in an assisted living facility) it didn't come as a shock, but still the news has hit me harder than I expected. There are layers to this grief I can't even begin to express right now.
Which is actually kind of funny when I think about it - when I was younger, I used to follow her around and regale her with long, drawn out stories about anything that happened to be in my head (which later became known as, "chicken salad sandwich stories"), but I've spent the better part of two days trying, and the words won't come. I'm sure she'd be amused at the irony of me being at a loss for words.
So instead, I'm sharing some of my favorite pictures of her from the recent throwback posts I've been doing.
In remembrance of Aunt Mary
1. Baby Mary Faye
2. Nana Souza & Aunt Mary May 30th, 1941
3. Mary and Lois (my mother), some time in the 1940s
4. Aunt Mary and Mom
5. Mom, Aunt Mary, Nana, and Grampy Souza - cropped from the original
6. Aunt Mary and mom
7. A shot that didn't clean up very well since it was blurry to begin with, but I love this shot of Aunt Mary with her mom (my Nana Souza), sometime in the mid 1940s
8. Mom and Aunt Mary
9. In front of the Chapel Street house.
10. First communion.
11. Aunt Mary (standing on the left) with mom sitting behind her.
12. Mom and Aunt Mary - from their outfits, I'm fairly certain (even though there isn't any info on these shots) these were taken on Easter.
13. Aunt Mary, sitting by the front door of the Chapel Street house in Gloucester, MA.
14. Chapel Street again
15. Aunt Mary and a doll, sitting outside the front door of the Chapel Street house.
16. With a doll carriage.
17. Somewhere in New Hampshire.
18. Grampy and Aunt Mary
19. Gymnastics in the yard
20. In the living room of the Chapel Street House
21. Possibly on the Gloucester, MA boulevard.
22. The back of the photo says, "Week of June 21st, 1954"
23. In the living room of Chapel Street
24. May 1966
25. I downloaded the original from Aunt Mary's Facebook so I could clean it up for her - this is the result
26. My Godparents at my Christening, Aunt Mary & Uncle Bill, 1965
27. My godparents (the adaptive equalize filter on Lunapics gave me different results for these two shots, but still better than the unfiltered)
28. Aunt Mary & Cailli in 1997
29. Aunt Mary, visiting Tristan in 1997
30. Our three kids showing off the new hats & scarves from Aunt Mary in 2006
31. My daughters (Cailli & Ciara) with Aunt Mary (mom's one and only sister) at mom's 80th birthday party in 2016
Miss you, Aunt Mary. Love you, Mom.
Thanks for stopping by!
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May her soul continue to rest in peace
Ah, Traci. A lovely tribute and lovely memories. The words will come. I think you need them close. For the moment.
I'm so sorry to hear this Traci, it sounds like she was a beacon of light and now she is shining in the next phase. Lovely tribute you've put together here and I'm sending my thoughts and condolences to you and your family 💙
Definitely getting a little choked up here taking this tiny stroll down such a rich memory lane. As one of my dear clients always tells me, grief isn't relieved in a few days. It is an ongoing process that is taken in our own time. Hugs again to you and yours!
♥️
A lovely way to honor and love your dear aunt, Traci. Hugs from me to you. ❤️
Always a shock when we say our final greeting to loved ones, always remembered, cherished in moments captured (some in photography, others in time shared).
Lovely tribute to an Aunt and Godmother.