The End of an Era - Celebrating A Life

I had another post planned for today, but I had to change it. I found out this morning that my Great-Aunt passed away. It was not particularly a surprise. She was the last of my grandmother's siblings alive, and while I do not know her exact age, I'd say she was probably around 90 and been sick for some time. She was, in a way, the end of an era. My Aunt Alice, widow of my Uncle Charlie (Grandma's brother), is still alive. But Aunt Clara was the last Albanese sibling. She was the last who knew my Grandma growing up, who lived in my Great Grandparents' house, where my mom was born. The last who knew the family recipes that, love or hate them, I associate with family holidays of my youth.

For reasons that I won't go into here, I hadn't seen my Aunt Clara since my grandmother's funeral in 2008. It was not because we didn't want to see her - she was sick and due to circumstances, unable to see anyone. So I can't say I have recent memories with her. She lived in Buffalo, NY, as does the majority of my family on my mom's side, so she wasn't right around the corner. But as children, until about the age of 16, we went to Buffalo every single holiday. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, and at least one of the summer holidays. We spent a lot of time, those days, with Aunt Clara. Her generation always seemed impossibly old, being the eldest generation at the gatherings, but thinking about it as an adult, she was probably in her early 50s, if that.

Aunt Clara was my the closest sister in age to my grandmother, and her best friend. They did everything together. She was the sibling that we, as kids, spent the most time with on our visits. I honestly can't remember a holiday celebration without her.

As my family tends to do, instead of mourning a death, we celebrate a life. Often, with humor, or at least light-heartedness. It seems the best way to remember a person, especially one who suffered so at the end of their life - I don't think anyone wants to be remembered old and sick and suffering. And so, here are some of my most memorable Aunt Clara experiences and stories.

• Aunt Clara was the world's WORST cook. I mean the absolute worst. She would substitute ingredients simply because they looked alike. No sugar? It's ok, there was salt for that! Literally. We used to all spend time at a house on a lake (I should know the name of it but I cannot) and on one occasion, against our better judgement, we let her make dinner - she'd chosen hamburgers, which seemed a pretty safe bet (I was about 8 then, so still ate some meat). No sooner did we eat, then every single one of us ran out in the bushes to get sick. Every. One. She tried so hard and we didn't want to hurt her feelings, so we just took turns vomiting in the bushes and trying to distract her so that she didn't notice. 

• She always clearly dyed her hair, but for a while, she had this really bad reddish orange color. She was so sweet that nobody had the heart to tell her it looked terrible, but it was a badly kept family joke. 

• Her house was, for some reason, always a mystery. It was messy beyond belief - I remember it taking effort to get in the door. But she always invited us over and dutifully, we went. I think she had some cats - I associate her house with cats, but I may be wrong. There was also something weird about the bathroom. To this day, I couldn't tell you what it was, but like her cooking and dye job, it was just something known in the family. "If you have to go to Aunt Clara's, make a pit stop before hand, because you do not go in the bathroom." I don't think it was filthy, I think it was just some place you didn't go. 

• Of course, there's that family infamous cake-baking story. My Grandma and Aunt Clara decided to bake a cake for a special occasion (I believe, but I don't recall the occasion). The cake called for egg yokes.  This was in their younger days, and they were not wealthy, so they didn't want to waste anything.  So "naturally", after they'd separated the yokes out, they forced themselves to gag down the raw egg whites. They simply couldn't toss them. Several steps later in the recipe, they realized it now called for them to add in the whites.

• Last but not least, there was the time that Aunt Clara and Grandma visited England, got sick on a bus ride, and then, being too embarrassed to say anything, stashed their vomit bags in the bushes outside of Buckingham Palace while everyone was busy watching the Changing of the Guard.

All joking aside, though, Aunt Clara was the kindest person. When I think of her, I picture her the way she was when I was about 10, with smiling eyes, badly dyed hair, pink lipstick (also a bad idea), and the voice that my grandmother and her two sisters shared - they sounded almost identical, or at least they do now in my head. She always seemed so gentle to me, almost frail, but she was not. I picture her in the kitchen in my Grandma's old house, where we all gathered each and every holiday. I do not picture her old and sick. That is not how I will remember her. Instead, I will chuckle about the horrendous beach house dinner episode, the trip to London, the cake, and the mysterious bathroom that I doubt we'll ever figure out now. These are what made her, her. And they are cherished. Rest in Peace, Aunt. You were the last of the four siblings, and you are now all together again. Perhaps they'll finally teach you to cook. 

Aunt Clara, Grandma (Lena), Aunt Lucy, and Uncle Charlie in their youth.