Remembering A Diva: My Aunt Peggy

While it has been 9 years to the day I believe since one of my biggest cheerleaders passed on beyond the realms of this world I can’t help but reflect back on it.  Odd that as I was reading in my Harper’s Bazaar the story this young woman lost her mother and her recounting of her actions.  She remembers she found comfort in raiding her mother’s closet for a scarf and a pair of 14K gold earrings.  I thought about my beloved Aunt Peggy.  I smile because I store the items my aunt gave me over the years in one place, occasionally I wear some pieces.  I cherish one of the last gifts she gave me which was a small, gold metal clutch.  I rarely carry it, not even my iPhone will not fit in it, but I cherish it. (smile).

I will never forget calling home all excited about having nailed my Property Law exam and just chattering on and on, but yet my mother really was not responsive.  Long pregnant pauses let me know that something was wrong.  She just let it out “Peggy died this morning.”  I was like “Peggy who?”  My mother said “Your Aunt Peggy.”  I remember that was sitting in my car outside the law office I worked at, my heart dropped.  I was noooooo!  She was getting better.  When I last saw my aunt she was very lethargic and could hardly get around, but later my mom said she was doing better.  I told my employer I just couldn’t work that day and I went home and put on Prince’s “Sometimes It Snows In April.”  And I kept it on rotation for most of that evening.  In the end we found that congestive heart failure and this lung disease called sarcoidosis eventually took her out.   We didn’t bury her until Mother’s Day weekend, so I struggled through my law school finals and went home to pay my final respects.  I recall my sister, Tonya, crying uncontrollably, it was indeed a sad moment for us all.  My cousin, her son, seemed so strong, but it was hard for us all.  She was Aunt Peggy, dear sweet Aunt Peggy; she was momma; she was grandma; a wife.  She loved us all, family was family to her.  What a way to close out my first year of law school.

My aunt was always such a lively person.  She was fabulous!  At one point, my aunt had been a hair stylist, a fashion stylist, and heavens only know what else when it came to fashion.  She was indeed a Diva.  She almost always wore her hair slicked back in a tight bomb.  I remember her always touching up her makeup in a pink compact with this spongy like powder puff.  That was just my Aunt Peggy’s thing.  I realize now when I look through my closets and peruse through my jewelry and accessory collections it’s all because of the influence of my Aunt Peggy.  She had style; she had grace, but best of all she had a heart of gold or these days I would go so far as to say platinum. 

She was one of my cheerleaders.  I recall when I graduated from undergrad she was so proud.  She was so happy for me when I got into law school.  And know she would have been even prouder when I crossed the stage at my law school graduation.  I know she was there in spirit, but it still wasn’t the same. 

Ahh to reminensce…All I can say is cherish your loved ones while they are here.  And remember that life is short, life is fleeting, and therefore, don’t sweat the small stuff, because in the end you will find that all of it is small stuff.  Do not worry about tomorrow, just focus on today, the moment, the present… (I have to close now as the tears have yet to quit falling…)