End of an era

Two Thanksgivings ago, an aunt from New York moved to Oklahoma. Since then, family events were more frequent and more tolerable. And my kids had a steady non-parental face at their events, cheering them on. She seemed to bring people together, and she was a very easy-going woman, in her retirement years with nowhere to be in a hurry. Yet she never just poked around either. She new, even at her age, that you had to move with purpose. And over the last couple of years, I became very glad that she moved here, and was hoping she'd stay awhile.

Unfortunately those days are over. My Aunt Helen had to move back to upstate New York today for essentially stupid reasons, and already I feel the local family (who gathered this evening to bid her adieu) fracturing in some ways. It was only an hour ago and already my kids have said they miss her.

She lived on a fixed income, and as a retiree of the New York City public school system, she had decent healthcare coverage. At least in New York. By moving to Oklahoma, she put herself out-of-network, subsequently driving her healthcare costs higher. I guess after two years of that, she could no longer keep up with the costs, so she retuned to New York where she says the cost is dramatically lower.

So, just like that, we end as we began, though we are left with these memories to remind us just how much better it was back then.