My trip was quite uneventful. This was for my aunt’s funeral. My aunt was 101. My aunt was the third person in our family to have died at a pretty high age, having recently eaten ice cream before they passed, and while watching TV. We feel very lucky that these people lived these great long lives and that that’s how they went. All of it seems — we are very grateful for the fact that they were not in pain, they did not struggle, they did not — they were not miserable and their death was very simple and peaceful, and you can’t complain about that.
But anyway, I went to my aunt’s funeral. It was more of a family reunion than a funeral, and was, um, interesting because we all had stories about my aunt to tell. And she had collected dragonfly pins and earrings and necklaces and things. And so my cousin had them, and she gave out one to all of the women and anybody else that wanted to wear them. Some of the men put them on their ties for the funeral. And it was, it was pretty cool. Everybody had one, and it was a nice show of respect to my aunt among other things.
I learned so much from my aunt. She was my mother’s brother’s wife. She’s the only aunt I had. My father and my aunt were both only children, and so they had been a set, so to speak, when we were growing up, and they always hung out together. And I had traveled on vacations with my aunt and uncle, um, and my parents but also with my aunt and uncle. My aunt had taught me how to scramble eggs. My aunt had taught me about Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie. My aunt had taught me something that I use all the time, and that was how to knit. So, um, I, wanted to be there for my cousins and because it was my aunt. So, um, I was happy to go, but boy, I’ll tell you, that trip across O’Hare. I was glad I had a carry-on with wheels. And it really went fast and I moved as fast as I could go for a 72 year old. I was surprised, actually, how fast I did it, and I’m glad I’m as in — in as good of shape as I am. Otherwise I’d have never made it. Never made it.