I think of my aunt often… of course when I see my cousins & uncle, but especially when I look at my mom. My mom always tells me of little incidents… I used to think of them as coincidences, but I would never say that to her face. No sense in ripping on her faith. They’re incidents when my mom feels like my aunt is standing next to her, talking to her, reminding her to do this or that... I guess it’s comforting to my mother to believe that her best friend really does linger there. It’s summer now. . And I’m reminded more and more of my aunt. It’s the season when my mom and my aunt used to spend a lot of time gardening together in our adjoining back yards. I keep expecting her to be sitting out on the porch with my mom, with our two crazy dogs in their laps. I still see her sometimes… bent over the tulips or roses or whatever flowers that she and my mom have just planted… or watering the lawn… or hanging their laundry in our yard… And more recently I see my mom in our back yard planting her garden…alone… and often looking into the my aunt’s garden wishing she were still there to gossip with and laugh with.

The other day I heard her talking to a little bird that was perched on the bird feeder next to her. “Hello Cris…” is all my mom said and went on with her gardening. It was one of those moments that I wanted to capture on film. But to do so would be to disturb the bitter sweetness of the moment... Since my mom didn’t know that I was standing there watching her and this little bird, later she excitedly told me about my aunt’s “visit” and how the bird just sat there for a little while and watched her and she just felt this kind of warmth and that’s when I started to believe that maybe my aunt really does linger there so that my mom wouldn’t feel so lonely…