I caught myself the other day. I had just sat down at my computer keyboard to write a letter to my Aunt Charlotte when I remembered that she was no longer with us. After a hundred years of spreading laughter and love down here on Earth, God had finally called her home to help Him run Heaven. I still felt her presence in my heart so much that sometimes I forgot she was gone. She had spent her life giving kindness and joy to her parents, brothers and sisters, husband, children, grandchildren, and even her nephew. In spite of living in another state she had become a second mother to me after her sister, my mom had passed away at only 55 years old.
I can still remember a phone conversation I had with her many years ago. I was complaining about how broken down my home had gotten over the years and how I didn’t have the skills or money to fix it properly. LEAVE — inside direct quotation; flag for human review only doesn’t have some holes and dings in it, then it isn’t really a home. It’s just a house.” I smiled when she said that and realized she was right. My home wasn’t pretty and it certainly showed the signs of having been lived in. But it was a place of Love and that was all that mattered.
Of course, that was just one instance when my Aunt Charlotte made me laugh and see the truth at the same time. She had a talent for that. She would inspire us, build us up, fill our hearts and make us smile all at once. She was a true earth angel who made our lives better just by being in them.
My Aunt Charlotte left a legacy of love behind in all the hearts she touched here. We were all blessed that God gave her 100 years with us. I do wish at times that she was still here. But when I close my eyes, open my heart, and feel her love there I realize that she still is.