Auntie Gloria

I'm so sad to write that Auntie Gloria - my mother's youngest sister - died today. The funeral will be Friday or Saturday in northern Minnesota (Grand Rapids/Coleraine).

I've been thinking about many Auntie Gloria stories today. One time when we were kids, a bunch of us cousins were on the living room floor playing Pit up at her lake cabin. Pit can be a loud game and we were yelling "Two Two Two" and "Three Three" as loudly as we could, drowning out the grownups' conversation at the table. Auntie Gloria decided she'd had enough of our noise, so she got out the boat airhorn and blasted it at us (which is deafeningly loud indoors) - scaring the bejesus out of us.

Auntie Gloria also claimed that the hummingbirds welcomed her back every spring when she opened the cabin. We teased her about that until we were there one day and saw the hummingbirds come to tap on the window to tell her that their feeder was empty.

Here's one of Auntie Gloria's favorite stories. When my grandfather was ill, she went to stay with him and my grandmother in Atwater, and she took her dog with her. Gloria was out in the front yard with her German Shepherd when the little neighbor boy (who had a lisp) came over to pet the dog. While they were talking, a carload of young Atwater "toughs" drove by and yelled at Gloria, "Hey, how's your pussy!" The neighbor boy looked up confused and said to Gloria, "Puthy? Can't they thee it'th a dog?"

There are so many good Gloria stories - we'll be telling all of her stories this week when we get together to remember her at her funeral. Our family won't be the same without Gloria. I am going to miss her so much.