Today is the birthday of one of my cousins - who died this past year... (on my grandson's third birthday).
She was the younger daughter of my father's sister, Elsie - who took care of me a lot during my younger years. My mother was a teacher. If she needed emergency child care, when we lived in Alberta, my parents would drive to Edmonton and drop me off at Elsie's - and my brother off at my grandmother's house. (My mother's mother). We'd stay there for a few days or longer. They were our second homes.
Eleanor and her older sister seemed to enjoy having me around - joked that I was their younger sister. But the person I loved the most at their house was their father, Rudolph. We had a special bond.
That ended when I was 12 and my family moved to Kelowna, although we'd visit back and forth annually.
Eleanor had been the flower girl at my parents' wedding. Many years later, she, together with her husband and kids and her mother, Elsie, crossed Canada to attend my wedding in Montreal. It meant a lot to me to have members of my family there. By then, her father had died.
Over the years, our lives distanced and we didn't see each other often. I'm glad I was able to visit her and her husband the last time I was in Edmonton.
She struggled with health issues the last 10 years of her life - but she faced them with faith and grace.
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