Eternal Company

 

I went to visit my aunt this summer. I've met her three times in my life. The first was when I went to Taiwan as a toddler. The second was when she came to visit us in Texas at our old house before we moved. I remember it being after my mom had just been diagnosed with cancer. My aunt had been diagnosed with an illness herself about a decade before. I remember loving the week my aunt came to visit us. She could speak English so we felt very comfortable talking to her. We moved the following summer and then my aunt came again to visit, this time, with my grandparents. That was the third and last time I saw her in person. 

My aunt always made it a point to show she cared about us. She sent us Christmas cards from overseas. She gave us small gifts and trinkets. I still have a key chain she made for me. She had drawn a design and written my name on the other side. 

 

My aunt died four years after my mother died. My dad didn't fly back when she passed. In hindsight, I think he was torn. He was still working, and he had two children he was taking care of. On the contrary, he could have flown back if he really wanted to. I was a junior in high school who had a car. My brother was already in college. He was already living on his own and I could have made it myself for a week or two if she had to - my dad could have left me some money for food and I would have been fine. But he didn't. 

When I told my dad I was pregnant with my daughter, I had told him my due date. The first thing he told me was, "That's your aunt's birthday." Mentally, I made a note how cool it was if she could be born on the same day as my aunt. (She didn't end up being born on her due date, but later, I'd find out for myself that my dad was wrong.) 

When we went back to Taiwan this year, we spent most of the time with my family. It wasn't a tourism visit. I knew we were going to be spending a lot of time with my family and doing "simple" adventures together. We visited a lot of parks. We walked various neighborhoods in the area and joked about buying houses to live as expats and raising our children overseas. We ate a lot of home-cooked food and shopped downstairs at the closest grocery store. 

One thing I almost forgot to do was to visit my aunt. My grandparents were more on the forefront of my mind because my grandma had just passed this year. But then, I remembered my aunt. Her resting place is in the same city as where my family lives. My uncle was able to drive us to go see my aunt. 

My aunt's birthday is February 20th.

 

When I saw her marker, the first thing I noticed was the Bible verse. It's written in Chinese, and it may be the only verse I can recognize and read in Chinese. It is the same verse that we picked for my mother. 

 

If you can read the characters, you'll see they match the ones on her marker. It's the last verse of Psalm 23.  I really couldn't believe two different people in my family, laid to rest in two different countries, unbeknownst to each other, share the same verse for their legacy. 

Happy Birthday, Mommy. I hope you're enjoying each other's company.