This is me and my Aunt Gail. This picture was taken at Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Today is her birthday. She's celebrating 80 years!
When I was thinking about her earlier today, another word that came to mind was strength. I don't consider myself strong at all. But she is. She's known a lot of loss during her 80 years of life. Her daddy passed away when she was six years old. He served with the Georgia State Patrol. She told me not too long ago that she still remembers that day in first grade when a couple of state patrolmen showed up at her classroom door and told her teacher they needed her to go with them. She said she knew right then and there that it wasn't good.
In time, her Mama, my MeMama, met and married my Granddaddy. Aunt Gail will be the first one to tell you that my Granddaddy took her, loved her and raised her as his very own. And then she was twelve years old when my Mama was born. It's my understanding that Aunt Gail was something else on the basketball court in her high school years. After she graduated, she didn't waste any time in marrying my Uncle Charles. The following year she gave birth to twins, Terry and Kerry. Terry died two days later. If I remember correctly, I think it was my Granddaddy and MeMama who planned his funeral because Aunt Gail was still in the hospital. Two years later she gave birth to my cousin Cindy. Cindy and I share the same birthday, just separated by seventeen years.
Years go by . . . Kerry and Cindy grow up, get married, welcome children of their own . . . Uncle Charles and Aunt Gail celebrate retirement and settle into their beloved life on the farm and begin traveling. Not long after retirement, Uncle Charles was involved in an accident on the farm that confined him to a wheelchair as a quadriplegic. He was in the hospital in Atlanta for quite awhile before spending several weeks in rehabilitation at Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute.
When Seth and I were married, our friends and family were given an opportunity to speak a word of blessing or encouragement over us at our rehearsal dinner. I will NEVER forget what my Aunt Gail said. She walked up to the front, Uncle Charles in his wheelchair right beside her. She talked about his accident and the day shortly thereafter when he woke up in the hospital and told her he would understand if she wanted to leave him. She didn't even let him finish talking before she "set him straight." She doesn't hesitate to set people straight, no matter who they are. She talked about what covenant marriage vows mean, what "til death do us part" meant to her. For the next eleven or so years after his accident, my aunt loved and cared for my uncle every single day until the Lord called him home. That was June 2009. They were married for 50 years!
I've often thought of the grief of burying your father at a young age, your newborn son, your husband of 50 years. I don't know that kind of grief at all. Aunt Gail does, but I also know she knows the depth of God's comfort that surpasses the grief and brings healing and hope. Because Aunt Gail has never grieved without hope . . . the hope of a Savior who loves so much that He secured eternity for His children through His death on the cross and resurrection . . . the hope in knowing that, for those who are in Christ Jesus, the end of this earthly life is the beginning of a glorious, forever life that we can't even comprehend.
Since then, Aunt Gail has continued to teach her Sunday school class, planned activities and trips for the senior adults at her church, helped care for my MeMama during her last years on this earth, cooked meals for her grandkids who just "stop by," volunteered weekly at "The Center," toured Israel, gone on a mission trip . . .
Speaking of Israel, I just have to mention that her Christmas card that year was my favorite! It was a picture of her sitting on a camel in Israel and captioned, "Wise women still seek Him." She is a hoot, I'm telling you!
And then there was that time a couple of years ago when she decided she wanted to buy a new vehicle, but Kerry and Cindy didn't think she needed one. So she called my mama and asked her to go to the car dealership with her. Mama did, and Aunt Gail came home with a new car! I found out about that little escapade before Cindy did, and we had a good laugh over it later.
I played an arrangement of It Is Well with My Soul at MeMama's funeral three years ago. When we sat down to eat lunch afterwards, Aunt Gail came over to me and told me she wanted me to play the Hallelujah Chorus at her funeral. And she wasn't even kidding. Not one bit. That right there nearly says it all about my Aunt Gail! (You know, it is tradition to stand during the Hallelujah Chorus. I'm not sure if she's expecting the entire congregation to stand or not, but she just might be!)
My favorite question to ask Aunt Gail the last several years was how her classes were going. She's been taking seminary classes for I don't know how long now. Yes. Seminary classes. Not only is she a phenomenal teach of the Word, but she is a dedicated student of the Word. About a year and a half ago, she told me that she just didn't think she could do it. She didn't think she could finish. I told her, "Oh, yes you are! You are NOT quitting." Of course, I knew without even saying it that it wasn't even necessary for me to say it. Because Aunt Gail doesn't quit. And she didn't. Several weeks ago she received her degree. I wasn't there to attend her graduation ceremony, but Mama sent these pictures to me.
