Generosity and My Aunt Pat

In my constant quest to evolve and become a better woman, I bought a "light" introductory book about Buddhism: The Chocolate Cake Sutra by Geri Larkin.

I am only on page 52 but I've just been reading about the importance of generosity. This teaching made me think of my late Aunt Pat who died earlier this year, and totally proves the point of generosity.

My Aunt Pat was a poor woman, the wife of an alcoholic brick mason (who was the NICEST person I've ever met, hands down.) They lived in a trailer in a trailer park that should have been condemned, but her trailer was like a tulip in a field of ragweed. She had a little fence and beautiful flowers. She cleaned hotel rooms for a living and was 100 lbs if she weighed anything at all (her died consisted of a LOT of raw pasta.) She was a nervous little bird with a tendency to be mad at a neighbor all the time and she always had some craft project going. Aunt Pat made me my first teddy bears which I still cherish today, 25 years later.

When reading the bit on generosity from the Buddhist point of view, I couldn't help but think of my Aunt Pat. As I said, she was poor. POOR poor. But she had an out-building on her little lot which she stocked with Big-Lots specials, and every time I visited she wouldn't let me leave without giving me SOMETHING. ME, the girl who had graduated college, had new cars, once lived in the best neighborhood around in one of the biggest houses around on a golf-course. Aunt Pat made sure she gave me a something that SHE needed before I left from her stash. I loved her and I liked her.

As I said, Aunt Pat died earlier this year of cancer that spread to her brain. It started in her lungs and moved throughout her body. The last time I saw her was at my Dad's funeral with a cigarette in one hand and her inhaler in the other. I always had the good intention of visiting her after his death but never did. I didn't know she was dying. I didn't go to her funeral because I didn't even know she had died (I'll talk about that in ANOTHER blog!) I can add that to my list of regrets, but I want her to know that I love her, wherever she is, and I have learned SO much from her. I think of her all the time.