Saturday, April 14, 2007

Aunty Priscilla


I credit my Aunt with my love of cooking. When I returned to Hawaii after I graduated, I lived at my Aunt's house. My cousin Carol and I had a room with our own entrance and bathroom. Life was good.

Every morning before leaving for work, she would have breakfast made for us and when we returned, dinner was on the table. I was so very surprised that, at least the 9 months I was there, she never had a stove fire. She had this peculiar method of keeping her stove clean. She would lift the silver thingys up around the element & line newspaper up all around it. It sure did the job but what a fire hazard. She had been doing it for decades so she had it down to a science.

My Aunt hummed and la di da'd all the time. It made me happy to be in the same room with her. She loved the Mike Douglas and the Dinah Shore Show. I too became to love them.

My cousin, Father Scott, cares for her. She has Alzheimers now for 6 years. The last time she was up here I played music from the war years for her. She was so happy, sang alot of the songs & said that those were the happy years for her. She is such a beautiful woman.

It's funny how a terrible disease like Alzheimer's can be a curse and a blessing. It has protected her from retaining the memory and feeling the long term hurt of losing her daughter Carol to breast cancer in July.

2 comments:

A bird in the hand said...

Thank you for sharing your precious Aunty Priscilla. And for seeing the blessing in her illness. I have often thought about that side of Alzeimer's.
xoxo

Patty said...

I just learned yesterday 6/30/07 of your Aunty Pricilla having Alzeimers, and the passing of my childhood friend Carol. It has been so many years since I last saw her. She will be greatly missed. I remember you coming to visit in Waipio, those were the good ol' days. Where and how is Sarah and Don doing? Much Aloha