The angels took another one yesterday.

It was so unexpected. Receiving a call from one of my dear cousins, one of the few who actually have my home phone number, to tell me that one of my most beloved Aunts passed away.

It isn’t even so much that she’s gone, it’s how she’s gone. She was fit as a fiddle. Happy, healthy. Loving and giving. She had a sweet calmness about her that really helped me in the hours and days after my mom died.

But on Tuesday evening with the weather warm she decided to head out. “It’s so nice Nancy. I think I’ll go for a drive.”

I imagine she had the windows down and was relaxed while she headed towards Guelph, and unknowingly to her death. I imagine she never saw the red pick up truck coming as it t-boned her car, flipped and spun it into a persons lawn. Her spinal cord severed and many other injuries were too much. They rushed her too Hamilton. She never woke up, and in fact was declared brain dead. She didn’t see it coming, and neither did any of us.

She was a wonderful light in the world and it pains me that she’s been taken from it too soon. It pains me that the driver of the truck received only minor injuries. It pains me that I never got a chance to thank her for holding me close and whispering in my ear after my mom died. Those words of comfort I can’t even recall but I can remember how warm and how loved I felt.

I will never forget that she always kept legos for me long after her children had grown to big for them. Her legos were the absolute best and she would let me build entire cities of houses on the squares of her kitchen floor. I will not forget the friendship her and mom had, and I can only assume that they are together now with my Uncle Larry who passed early last year chatting and catching up.

I’m assured that my mother met her on her journey and that they are together now.

My Aunt Velma meant the world to me and as much as I feel her loss, I feel so bad for my cousins who have lost a wonderful mother. I know the pain they are going to go through and how difficult this is going to be for them. I hope that some way, somehow, I can offer them comfort in the same way that their mother offered it to me.

Rest in peace Aunt Velma. You will be missed.