We'll Meet Again....

This past week my Aunt Norah, 93yrs old,  went to be with her Lord ... and my mom.  She was the last surviving child of James and Norah Harman and came to Canada in 1926 with her father, step-mother and younger sister, Annie (my mom).  Just six weeks later her father died and they had several difficult years ahead.  Left behind in England was older sisters Lily, Carrie and Mary and older brother James.

Next to my mom, I loved my Auntie Norah best.  I think it's because we were kindred spirits.  I loved her spunky behaviour and when she laughed the room lit up. Her and my mom were a pair!  She became a Christian in the 1970's and from that time forward she was always on about God.  Being young, I thought she was going a bit off the deep end, but as my own relationship with God deepened, I realized that she really just had a great friend in Jesus and wanted that same joy for me.  As a result she had a great influence on my spiritual development. 

We always used to enjoy taking the children to visit Aunt Norah and Uncle Frank, and they always put on a nice little lunch for us and we always spent the time having great conversations, filling each other in on the latest news.  They were always such great times.  I remember when Ed and I were getting ready to become officers in TSA, she was so encouraging to us. Her and my Uncle Frank would pray for us and tell us how proud they were of us. I'll never forget them cheering us on as we marched down the aisle at Massey Hall in Toronto at our commissioning in 1992.  I know she was so proud of me.  It gave me such happiness to see her and my mother like that.

I'm so glad I took the opportunity to see her in October when I was back in Ontario for my mother's funeral.  We had a lovely visit at the nursing home and even though she was much more fragile than I'd ever seen her, she knew who we were and even knew who the youngest boys were.  I'm so glad I took Nathan & Evan to meet their great aunt and have a chance to talk to her and get a sense of who she was. 

When it was time to say goodbye, I knew I would likely never see her again.  We hugged, we kissed and was said "so long..."  and we sang, "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when...."  But we both knew, we knew for sure.... we'll meet one day in Heaven and we'll all sit down together and have a great cuppa and a gab together and catch up on the latest news....

I miss her.  I miss them both.  My life was so much richer because I had them in my life.

I'll always love you Auntie Norah!

Cheerio!

Kathie