It is funny how families spread out across a country how you wish you had more memories of certain family members than what you had the opportunity to, after they pass away.

Once such person was my Auntie Nancy who recently passed away.

I remember meeting her when I was about 5 years old when she started dating my Dad's brother when he moved out West from Central Canada and ended up boarding at my Mom's parents house (confusing I know).

I remember that wedding when Auntie Nancy became an official Aunt even though she was Auntie Nancy long before that. She was a bit younger than all my Aunts and Uncles and she was always full of life. She dotted on us kids anytime that we made the trip out to Vancouver for family visits and was always more interested in us, then the adults when they came to visit in Calgary.

As we grew older, trips to the coast became less frequent as a family and my grandmothers passing. Still, me and my two sisters make a couple of trips a year out to the Vancouver area to visit all the family and friends. Every trip in the area always involved a day with my Aunt and Uncle. She would always plan a day that she knew would interest each of us without the rest of the family having to be together.

Usually, my Aunt and Uncle and I would head to Steveston in Richmond to visit the historic cannery and wander around and watch the fresh fish being offloaded from a boat and occasionally pick something up. Then we would make a stop at a historic hotel for some fish and chips for lunch or dinner. Generally we would make an out of the nowhere drive to places and they would both share stories of places that they, my grandparents and parents all had a story to be told about the place they were showing me. Anywhere I asked about, they wouldn't hesitate to drive there and share in another story of the place. Some I'm sure my parents would have preferred I did not know about .

On my last visit out there she informed me that she was diagnosed with stomach cancer and was just starting Chemo. Still, she had planned a morning of driving around the Delta area and a stop at a restaurant in the town where they lived. After lunch she was tired from the Chemo she was undergoing and asked if she would mind her taking a nap. When I inquired if we should should call it a day, she refused. Said she needed a nap and would be good to go for dinner at the Fish n' Chips restaurant in Richmond. She suggested if I went out to visit my Mother and Grandparents grave site, she would be good to go when I got back.

A little side note, my Mother was interned with my Grandparents in a cemetery not far from where they lived. Due to the vast location of family, she always tended to all 3 grave sites when other family couldn't due to distance. She never admitted it, but we all knew she was going and clearing away dead flower and such after any of had visited and even went out and placed flowers for occasions when no one would be there.

Last I had heard was that she was going to get a break from the chemo as the stomach cancer wasn't spreading and they figured her body could use a little break. Then, last Friday (a week ago), she told the principle at the school she worked at everyday as a crossing guard and lunch room supervisor for the past ten years that she felt like she was coming down with a flu. After going home and a little while later she had my Uncle take her to the hospital. Needless to say on Sunday she passed away due to complications of the cancer.

My sisters and I were able to take the day off work and fly out to Vancouver for the funeral yesterday. My uncle summed it up as to have his and her favourite nieces and nephew there made a bright spot in such a sad day.

The funeral was a full Catholic mass, one that I have been to a few times before. Although most people there were not Catholic, the priest seemed to break away from the tradition of a Catholic Funeral Mass and inserted my Aunt and her life into the scriptures that were read and never once did I feel she was in the back seat of the funeral mass.

One Eulogists was the Principle of the elementary school she worked. His one line made everyone laugh and even the Priest was chuckling away. He said that he sees my Aunt up at the Pearly Gates dressed in her safety vest with her handheld stop sign, directing traffic at the probably crowded entrance to the Gates. He wouldn't even be surprised if she held up her stop sign to an aggressive or pushy person trying to break the order of the line up . Only once everyone was in safely would she take the time to go to the front of the line.

The school is having an assembly next week as the Parents Teacher Committee want to dedicate the afternoon to my Aunt. I'm hoping they will post it online so I get to see it. My Uncle will be in attendance so the kids can share what she meant to so many of them.

I'm crying like a baby as I write this and it is only a small measurement of what she meant to me.

Auntie Nancy, I love you and glad you are no longer in pain and suffering from your illness. I know you know we will all keep in contact with Uncle Fred until you meet again in the future. You will forever be in our hearts and minds.

One last thing that made us all break down and cry, my sister's oldest son who is six, when my sister told him about Auntie Nancy dying, he told my mom to not be sad, Grandma Vicki and Joey (my mom's and dad's dog) would be waiting for her and keep her company.