The Fighting Iris

Chuck & Sally's flowers were an excellent tribute to a strong but gentle lady who passed from this world on May 5th. Aunt Iris who lived for the sake of others her whole life finally took some days off for herself to see some old friends and family. As Sally said in her blog, Iris was a treasure I came to appreciate too late in life. She was on hand to teach me to read my first two words: "On" and "Off". They were on a dial on the stove in Grandma Decker's kitchen. That was an aha moment for her that she must have re-lived thousands of time in her career as an elementary teacher, and I'll bet she never tired of it.

Last week at Sally's house belonged to the kids. The ones like Ari, Charis, and Keira but also us old toots as we remembered ourselves years ago. It was a time of sharing the past as I have never known. Old secrets were opened (not to be disclosed by this reporter) that shocked, amazed, and even comforted those gathered around the table. Being confronted with our own mortality, I think were conscious of the possibility of our stories vanishing with our lives.

I think we wore Cleda out pumping for information about the past. We all wanted to know everything there was to know about the house where she and her family lived. It burned down before most of our generation were born, but we still held it dear in our imagination.