Love You, Aunt Mary

Two days ago I learned that my Mom's younger sister went to the hospital with what was assumed to be another urinary tract infection. She was feverish and disoriented, which were symptoms of the same infection a year or so ago. But it turns out she doesn't have a UTI. Today the test results came back positive for Covid-19.

She is down to two liters of oxygen a day, and they are trying her on a cocktail of drugs that have yielded some improvement in other patients. The Physician Assistant said that she has really "perked up" in the past two days, and that he is "cautiously optimistic". My cousins, her daughters, were planning to Face Time with her this afternoon, so we will know more tomorrow.

Aunt Mary is the keeper of the family stories. She loves history, and once belonged to the Hunterdon County, NJ "Hysterical Society". She and Uncle Albert shared a quirky sense of humor. The day that two Mormon Missionaries showed up at their door, Mary and Al offered the boys a place to live if they promised not to try and convert them. The boys took them up on the offer, and they kept their promise. The Freemans remained steadfast Methodists throughout the rest of their days together.

So many poignant visuals have been flooding back to me these past couple of days, since learning of my aunt's illness. The four foot hollyhocks at the edge of the woods behind their home. The antique wicker furniture on their sun porch, and all the paintings crowding their walls. The vintage Heisey glassware, and the toile drapes with velvet sashes. The Fourth of July picnics out back with the lightening bugs, and pies with homemade pie crust. So many good family times, but never quite enough of them either.

We wait, and we worry. We dare to hope, and we send our thought-prayers her way. The text thread of cousins links us to every new development and helps us stand strong. There will be more news tomorrow.