Tonight I would like to take a few minutes to pay my respects to my Aunt Donna and my cousin Butch.
Aunt Donna lost her battle with cancer in July. If you will indulge me, I would like to share a few of my favorite memories of Aunt Donna with you.
Antiques, Elephants and Sleigh Bells
Legend has it that I am named after Aunt Donna. That has neither been confirmed nor denied. My earliest memories of Aunt Donna involve playing at her house. She had a piano in the dining room that she would let us bang around on. And there was a white shag rug in front of their fireplace that was shaped liked a bear pelt which I would lay on whenever I got the chance. When we would play in the back yard we knew better than to get in Uncle Bob's garden. The older kids had me convinced that the outside door to their basement was really the door to an old ladies apartment who lived underneath them. They used to dare me to go knock on the door. I remember a large (porcelain?) elephant that sat next to the fireplace also.
If I were to go chronologically on events I would have to put things in this order:
Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve was always spent at Aunt Donna's house when I was growing up. Santa Claus would stop by and deliver presents to everyone who was there. For many years Aunt Donna gave me the honor of holding Santa's sleigh bells while he passed out presents and ringing them during the singing of "Jingle Bells."
Going to court, Aunt Donna spent part of her career as a bailiff. I think I was about 10 or 11 when Aunt Donna invited me and my cousins Joe and Danielle to go to court for the day. We spent the day watching the legal system at work. I remember going to lunch at this cool new restaurant that had just opened up. It was a sandwich shop called Subway. Looking back that was a really cool experience.
On the cat walk, Aunt Donna ran for State Rep. We happily worked on her campaign. She invited my cousin Joe and I to help with a campaign fund raiser. I was probably 12-13 at the time. Joe and I were to escort the models to the runway in a fashion show. The models happen to be some of my cousin Robin's most beautiful friends. How lucky were we? That was a fun night for everyone. Joe and I wore tuxedos and at the end we had took off the button down shirt to show off the Lunsford for State Rep t-shirt. It was neat to be invited to participate in that and other campaign projects.
Aunt Donna lost her battle with cancer in July. If you will indulge me, I would like to share a few of my favorite memories of Aunt Donna with you.
Antiques, Elephants and Sleigh Bells
Legend has it that I am named after Aunt Donna. That has neither been confirmed nor denied. My earliest memories of Aunt Donna involve playing at her house. She had a piano in the dining room that she would let us bang around on. And there was a white shag rug in front of their fireplace that was shaped liked a bear pelt which I would lay on whenever I got the chance. When we would play in the back yard we knew better than to get in Uncle Bob's garden. The older kids had me convinced that the outside door to their basement was really the door to an old ladies apartment who lived underneath them. They used to dare me to go knock on the door. I remember a large (porcelain?) elephant that sat next to the fireplace also.
If I were to go chronologically on events I would have to put things in this order:
Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve was always spent at Aunt Donna's house when I was growing up. Santa Claus would stop by and deliver presents to everyone who was there. For many years Aunt Donna gave me the honor of holding Santa's sleigh bells while he passed out presents and ringing them during the singing of "Jingle Bells."
Going to court, Aunt Donna spent part of her career as a bailiff. I think I was about 10 or 11 when Aunt Donna invited me and my cousins Joe and Danielle to go to court for the day. We spent the day watching the legal system at work. I remember going to lunch at this cool new restaurant that had just opened up. It was a sandwich shop called Subway. Looking back that was a really cool experience.
On the cat walk, Aunt Donna ran for State Rep. We happily worked on her campaign. She invited my cousin Joe and I to help with a campaign fund raiser. I was probably 12-13 at the time. Joe and I were to escort the models to the runway in a fashion show. The models happen to be some of my cousin Robin's most beautiful friends. How lucky were we? That was a fun night for everyone. Joe and I wore tuxedos and at the end we had took off the button down shirt to show off the Lunsford for State Rep t-shirt. It was neat to be invited to participate in that and other campaign projects.
Wow, there are so many more memories. I just don't think that I can do them any justice typed here on this page.
Butch died a few weeks later at the age of 45. Unexpected. Untimely (as if death is ever timely) for an already grieving family. Butch always had a smile on his face and was friendly to everyone. I don't think you could meet a nicer man. He was laid to rest in his casket with the same familiar smile that would lead you to believe he was up to something or getting ready to share a joke.
I am confident that they are in a better place now waiting to be rejoined with their loved ones.
