Today started as any normal work day. I had no idea that when I got to work at 6:30am that shortly after noon today I would find out that life in our family had been altered drastically a couple of hours earlier.
Today, my beautiful, wonderful Aunt Ieda left us to go home to be with her Lord and Savior. Today, Aunt Ieda is no longer in pain, has no more worries, is free in the spirit of God to love, laugh and be forever in the presence of the Almighty God. For that, we can be so very, very thankful. She is home.
Today, we shed tears, not because of where she has gone, but because we will miss her so very, very much. This lady was so caring, so loving. She always had a smile for you, never forgot to say "I love you" and always, always made you feel so very welcome in her home.
Aunt Ieda was a very favorite aunt when I was growing up and continued to be even as I got older. We rarely saw each, but kept up with what was going on in each other's lives through my mom, sister to Aunt Ieda.
As a children, my sister and I loved to go spend the night or the weekend at Aunt Ieda's house. We always had so much fun with her. She is the reason that we have pierced ears today. Jody and I wanted Mom to let us get our ears pierced. She kept saying no, that we were too young. On a weekend visit to my aunt's house, we asked her if she thought we were too young. Her response was to get out the big old sewing needle, some thread and an ice cube and go to work. Now, I would never have told her but I was scared to death. I wanted to get my ears pierced but the big ole needle looked pretty scary. So she preceded to numb our ears with the ice cube and jab that needle through our ears. She had thread in the needle and the thread was tied off to make a little loop that would stay in our ears. This was so we could move it back and forth in the hole to keep the hole open until it healed up. Jody had the worst of it. Aunt Ieda got the first hold crooked and had to redo it. OUCH!!!
When Mom found out that our ears were pierced she got really angry because Aunt Ieda had done this without asking her if it was okay first. Aunt Ieda's response was "now you leave those girls alone. I showed them how to take care of the holes and they will be just fine. Then Mom let Aunt Ieda pierce her ears. Funny how that worked.
Aunt Ieda was a warm, loving person. But she also had a teeny little temper. Don't try to pull anything over on her. She had no problem telling you what she thought. You were always welcome in her home and one of her favorite things to do was cook up a big meal for any occasion. I had the pleasure of being present when she was cooking up a big batch of apple butter to can. I love apple butter to this day.
She cared about everyone and spent many, many hours on the phone with friends and family. Personally, I don't know how she ever got anything done. It seems she was always on the phone.
The world is a sadder place today because Aunt Ieda is no longer with us. But I know that the angels are rejoicing to have her with them. And she is probably talking my Dad's ear off telling him about everything that's gone on in the family since he passed on 5 years ago.
Rest in Peace Aunt Ieda and know that you were loved as much as you loved others.
I really loved my Aunt Ieda. She was a very sweet, loving, wonderful woman. She did know how to make you feel better and make you smile anytime that she talked to you. Yes Deb I do remember the ear piercing and I remember that she also decided to make my hole bigger so she used a bigger needle and it was hurting and I was crying so she wouldn't keep pushing the needle through and just stopped and I remember sitting in front of a fan and Keith would come through and give me a kiss on the head, then finally Aunt Ieda pushed the needle through. Yes it did hurt but it's okay now. I also remember a time when Rhonda and I went over and was staying all night and Aunt Ieda had that red convertable and we went for a ride and then got pizza and came back to her house and Granny lived in front of her and she called as soon as we came in and started saying "Don't you think it's too late to be out running around and you should be in bed". We didn't pay attention because we were having fun.
ReplyDeleteShe always said to me at the end of a phone call "Love you bunches". Sure going to miss that. I know that her and Dad is up there talking and talking and laughing alot too.
One day I will get to join them and catch up on things I've missed.
I Love my family and so very thankful for my family.