Let’s remember to celebrate life, shall we?

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

– Lao Tzu

Today is February 10, 2014 marking the second day of Celebration of Love Week (February 9-15).  It’s also my aunt’s birthday.  She would have been 44 years old today.  Two years ago, she was taken from us due to ovarian cancer.  But I don’t say any of this to bring you down.  My aunt was the most loving woman I’ve ever known.  This Celebration of Love Week, I want to celebrate her.

Before she got sick, she taught sexual education at an underprivileged school in Los Angeles, CA.  She loved people, and she loved her kids.  Because she lived so far away, she didn’t get to visit very often.  When she did though, it was a huge event.

When I was younger, back in the 90’s, Beanie Babies were the thing everyone wanted.  They were absolutely everywhere.  Every time my aunt came to visit, she came with a larger than life bag full of Beanie Babies and allowed us to pick the ones we wanted.  I don’t even know if I still have any of those Beanie Babies, but the memory is very vivid in my mind.

Every time I saw her, she made sure to always tell me how proud she was of me.  She was always asking me about how school was going, what I wanted to pursuit after school.  They weren’t the questions that family members feel obligated to ask you and that make you feel uncomfortable when you don’t know the answer.  I always knew that she genuinely wanted to know these things and I always felt comfortable telling her the truth about everything.  My dreams never seemed too big in her eyes.

After she got sick, I got to know her friends from Los Angeles a lot more.  My aunt moved back in with my grandma once she couldn’t work anymore and her friends would visit every so often.  I enjoyed their visits, partly because it made my aunt happy and partly because it showed me a different side of her.  I got to see more of the life she led.  Every time I saw them, they would tell me about how my aunt was always raving about, “My Katie’s doing this” or “My Katie’s so smart, she doing that”.  The love she had for her family was beyond measure.

I loved visiting with her even when she was too weak to say much because I knew that she knew I was there.  I knew that she enjoyed every minute of my being there.  I would take my niece and nephew to visit her because family was everything to her.  She was surrounded by so much love and she just exuded that love back tenfold.

Two years ago, she was taken from us much too soon.  It was a really hard time in my life.  You’re never ready for something like that to happen.  But today and this week especially, I don’t want to dwell on her passing.  I want to remember her life.  I want to look at the beautiful pictures we have of her when her hair was long and dark, when she’s embracing my dad, when she’s smiling from ear to ear because she’s surrounded by family.  This week, I want to celebrate her life in any way I can.  And right now, that means not giving up on my dreams.  She was always encouraging me to do what I loved, to do what would make me happy.  I want to celebrate and honor her life by doing just that.

Leave a comment below if you have someone special you want to celebrate this week, or if you have special ways you show your love.

Until next time divas, wear your heels well.  And celebrate love & life!