A Big Life Lived Quietly...

 

Hi,

I hope you will indulge these personal ramblings, as another chair that surrounds this big family's table finds itself empty.

The eldest Auntie, a Nun, but not the traditional type that you instantly just conjured in your mind. She was the Auntie that, as young nieces and nephews, flitted in and out of our lives, not because she didn't love us, but because her life called her to grand adventures where she touched the lives of countless people in faraway lands in the most profound of ways.

I can only speak for myself, but until she became older and was assigned more stationary posts, she seemed more like Indiana Jones than the boring nuns who taught us at school. 

Now, don't get me wrong, she would not want to be painted as a saint, although she might have accepted the title with her mischievous wink and a nod in family conversation. No, she was a real, full, flawed, person. She was stubborn, could definitely be, shall we say, persuasive, but always and forever curious, mind open, willing to learn and test boundaries.

Now, she is free of the weights of humanity, getting to witness the entire truth of what awaits us. Oh, the wonder that must be enveloping her ever-curious soul. I can picture her reveling in the awesomeness of our unknown. 

Her biology is no longer binding her to an earthly life that she could no longer fully experience or enjoy with her whole self. 

She was blessed with a peaceful transition into what the rest of us can only wonder about, reunited with all the loved ones who cleared the path. 

A big life, lived quietly. Her impact, international, generational. 

Forever felt by many.

We'll miss you Auntie Val.