Lost Treasure

 My heart is broken. Yesterday I lost my treasured Aunt Peggy.

Anyone that knew my aunt Peggy loved her. She was a gem. Putting others before herself, an eternal optimist and a fierce fighter. She entered the world as a preemie in 1925 and has been fighting ever since! The last decade has been full of health challenges but each time she met them face on, determined to overcome them. In fact, several stories come to mind when I think of this.

1.      After suffering a heart attack, she was flown to London in a helicopter. When I popped into her room to see how she was doing, she told me it was pretty exciting to be in the helicopter, but more importantly her attendant was a "very good looking fellow". Ha ha...so cute.

2.      Another time while visiting her in the hospital, the curtain was drawn between the patients. She did not have a view of the window but as soon as I walked in, she smiled and said “it’s a beautiful day outside, isn’t it?”

I have shared that story many times to emphasize how important your attitude and outlook are. In fact, during my last visit with Peggy three weeks ago, I felt compelled to share that with her. I explained how she had touched so many people and I often shared the windowless story with my friends. She thought nothing of it because that’s just who she is.

Her outlook and attitude, I’m certain, is why she made it to #96. I recall visiting her (in hospital) months before her 87^th birthday. Things were serious but she told me that she had been thinking and she would need to live until at least 90 to complete all the things she wanted to do. I was thrilled to celebrate that milestone with her…and six more besides!

Nearly 20 years older than my dad, Peggy was more of a grandma to me than an aunt. We lived close by and as a kid I would hop in the car any time my parents were going for a visit. Many, many evenings I spent in her living room or around her kitchen table. Instant coffee was always served (it’s where I started drinking coffee) and usually a piece of pie or slice of bread with butter and homemade raspberry jam. She shared our turkey dinners, birthday cakes, graduations and recitals.

I always called her Peggy but she also went by Kathleen or Kay. Kinda confusing, right? Well, as I mentioned, she was born a preemie and named Kathleen Irene Mills. But when one of the Irish neighbours came by for a visit, he told my grandparents that name was too big for a little thing like her and she needed a good Irish name like Peggy. Believe it or not, that name has stuck with her for 96 years! Some folks call her Kathleen, others call her Kay but to me she will never be anything but Peggy!

Peggy grew up on a farm and worked just as hard as any of her brothers, helping her dad with work in the field and her mom with work in the house. Her self-sacrificing spirit meant she was always there for anyone that needed her. When she was a bit older, she became somewhat of a midwife. There was no training involved, but she would go and help deliver neighbourhood babies and then stay for a few weeks to help out the new mom. I thought it was really cool when I discovered that she actually lived at the Petrolia Hospital for a time. We were driving by the older part of the hospital one day (which used to be a house) and she pointed at the turret and said "Oh, I used to live up there. I really liked my room."

There were many afternoons or evenings spent listening to stories from the past. I love hearing history from the people that lived it. Peggy really changed the course of our family when she became a Christian as a young woman. The change in her life prompted a change in many other lives. She loved Jesus and was passionate about living out her faith.

The past year and a half has been a challenging one for many reasons, one of which is that Peggy went into a nursing home in December 2019. So, her ability to visit with friends and family has been very limited. We did our best to stay in touch, sending fun things in the mail and calling regularly. I am so very grateful that I had a visit with her just 3 weeks ago. She loved hearing about my canning so I took her some dill pickles and peach jam. She was thrilled. I was thrilled. Hugging her that day was extra special. I didn’t know it would be my last. My heart broke when I heard she had left us. But, I know that she is rejoicing in heaven and that brings me great joy.

 

Random memories:

·        Yard sales – she loved a good bargain

·        Picking strawberries – she just loved it

·       Going to London Dairy – Peggy would order a pineapple sundae and give me her whipped cream because she didn’t like it

·        Eating out and Peggy ordering liver and onions

·        So many clocks and none said the same time!

·        The carefully folded paper creations I made and she kept in her china cabinet

·        Teaching me how to quilt

·        Her crocheted bowls

·        Salmon sandwiches

·        Learning her phone number before my own!

·        She would always ask about Cody playing the piano and commented that she “loved a man that plays the piano”.

·        She would also always ask about Devin and ask if he was “working hard” (important character quality)

Our grins were the result of her whipping her cane over on the grass and declaring she did not want that in the photo!