{"id":285,"date":"2015-04-21T13:39:43","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T18:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lostpineslife.com\/?p=285"},"modified":"2016-08-09T19:00:45","modified_gmt":"2016-08-10T00:00:45","slug":"my-aunts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lostpineslife.com\/?p=285","title":{"rendered":"My Sweet Aunts"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Aunt Thelma died this week. \u00a0She was a feisty woman, outspoken and strong-willed. \u00a0I say this with much love because that was not always an easy way to be as a woman in East Texas or \u00a0in our family. \u00a0I know because I’m like her in those ways! \u00a0She was a career woman, a nurse, and very smart. \u00a0She was observant and wise and gave me good advice on many occasions. \u00a0I loved her very much.<\/p>\n

My mother Joyce had four sisters–Ethel, Mary, Thelma, and Mom’s identical twin, Loyce. \u00a0They were close and loving, and, as far as I know never exchanged a harsh word. \u00a0These ladies were the definition of sweet! \u00a0I learned about sisterly love, unconditional support, and “being there” from growing up in this loving circle of sisters.<\/p>\n

When I was a child, Auntie (Ethel) lived just around the block at the back of the wooded loop of our little neighborhood. \u00a0Aunt Thelma lived on the same street, and later moved next door to our house. \u00a0Aunt Loyce lived just behind us, backyard to backyard. \u00a0There was a little wooden fence once added to keep Shetland ponies contained for the year or so we had them. \u00a0The twins would chat over the fence as they tended their matching borders of sweet peas. \u00a0 Paths worn in the grass went straight to Aunt Thelma’s and Aunt Loyce’s back doors. \u00a0Aunt Mary lived in Houston but frequently visited for afternoon coffee never appearing without a warm homemade cake.<\/p>\n

Afternoon coffee was a daily ritual for the sisters. \u00a0 \u00a0Theirs was the deepest bond I witnessed as a child. \u00a0They shared so much across the table at coffee time–gossip and news and struggles, joy and heartache. \u00a0 This ritual continued long after I grew up and moved away, and when I came back to Conroe from Austin, I always tried to be there by “coffee time”. \u00a0Of course it changed over the years. \u00a0At different times the group included my sisters and cousins, my dad and Uncle Carl. \u00a0Eventually, it was just Mom, Carl, and Sissy as death and infirmities took the others away one by one.<\/p>\n

How fortunate I was to have these sweet aunts who loved me, and were a part of my daily life as a child. \u00a0They were just steps away if I needed anything. \u00a0I would run barefoot through the green grass to play on Aunt Thelma’s swing set, or make flower leis from the pink four o’clocks on the side of her house, \u00a0I transplanted some of them to my first house as a young mother. \u00a0I played by the creek at Aunt Loyce’s where it was deep, and spent the night there when my parents were away.<\/p>\n

This week I am aware of missing them deeply, and missing my own sister, Jan, who has been gone for almost eighteen years now. \u00a0I remember the night we lost her, and how Aunt Thelma and Aunt Loyce were there within minutes in the early hours of the morning grieving with us, yet taking care of us.<\/p>\n

As I walk through the pine trees at Little Piney, I feel the Neel sisters with me in my heart, in my very character, in my core belief that people are good and unconditional love does exist. \u00a0I see the big pines with double or triple trunks, and I see them there, joined at the roots and together forever. \u00a0The smell of pine, the carpet of pine needles, the dewberries, the wildflowers all take me home, back to that circle of love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Neel sisters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_1411\"
Double-trunked pine tree I call “Twin Sisters”.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Aunt Thelma died this week. \u00a0She was a feisty woman, outspoken and strong-willed. \u00a0I say this with much love because that was not always an easy way to be as a woman in East Texas or \u00a0in our family. \u00a0I know because I’m like her in those ways! \u00a0She was a career woman, aContinue reading<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,260,259],"tags":[80,79,81,83,82],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lost-pines-life","category-nature-and-grief","category-nature-and-the-human-spirit","tag-grief-and-healing","tag-grief-and-loss","tag-nature-and-healing","tag-sisters","tag-thelma-neel-cromwell"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Sweet Aunts Grief and Healing in Nature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I learned about sisterly love, unconditional support, and "being there" growing up in the loving circle of my mother and her 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