Amanda: Day 98. Family.

*Just a heads up, this post deals with death and if you are sensitive, you might want to skip this post.*

Today was one of those days where you realize exactly how important life is. Today, we laid to rest my Aunt Gladys. Six weeks ago we found out she had cancer in her liver, kidneys and bones. She was fighting the good fight and all was going as well as could be expected. I had planned to take the Monday after Easter Sunday off to spend the day with her. However, she took a turn for the worse on Friday and never recovered. Aunt Gladys was an incredibly strong woman. She had a wonderful family whom she took care of by herself. There was not one person who knew her who didn't have the utmost respect for her. She worked until last November. I mean, can you imagine, working at the age of 86?!? I respected, loved and admired her so much. I struggled with whether or not to take these two pictures, but I came to the conclusion they were very appropriate. After the funeral, after the luncheon, after everyone had gone, we walked back to the cemetery. Everyone gathered at her graveside after wards and no one wanted to leave. I thought it was so cool and so appropriate, that was exactly how it was when she was still with us. She will be missed greatly.

From Amanda's 365 Project

From Amanda's 365 Project

After the funeral, my mom and I went to go the contents of a time capsule that was placed in the ground when my grandmother was in grade school. I was SOOO excited to see it because I really have no tangible items left from my grandmother. We got to the museum to see the contents from the time capsule and the volunteer told us that someone had came to pick it up for archival purposes. I was crushed. We conducted the Spanish Inquistion on the volunteer about what was in the capsule and she told us that all of the school kids had their name listed on a page. Some of them were written by them and some were written by the teacher. How I wanted to see that! So my mother and I went along our way and went to the Antique Rose Emporium. My mother, being the keen person she is, picked up on a conversation and lo and behold found the man who had taken the documents. He offered to show us what was in the time capsule. My grandmother's teacher had allowed them to write their first name and she wrote in their last name. I was truly touched and almost moved to tears when I saw it. It is crazy to think what my grandmother was thinking about when she was in first grade. She hadn't met my grandfather, she wasn't thinking about kids and I'm sure she never imagined that 75 years later her granddaughter would be looking at it. It was truly awesome. Below is her signature, she is Lucille Wagner!

From Amanda's 365 Project