by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
Aunt Myrt had a unique outlook on many things. I was young when she passed away, so I was never sure if her comments were sincere or just for shock value.
Here’s a perfect example. I was part of a family group going to the cemetery on Decoration Day (remember that?) to put geranium flower pots on select relatives’ graves. If your grave was selected, then you had died in the family’s good graces. Myrt was along on that trip and instead of chiming in with the what-a-shame-Gladdy’s-gone repartee, Myrt would say, “I just love a permanent vacation like that.”
Cousin Karl challenged her with, “How do you know it’s a vacation?”
“Well, why wouldn’t it be?” Myrt retorted. “Getting out of this dreary old world for good is a plus. You have to admit that.”
“Eternal life probably beats these surroundings any day, I’ll grant you that. But not if you went south,” Karl baited.
“Birds go south for the winter and people do, too, which is why Florida and South America have all those visitors. See — going south is a vacation,” Myrt reasoned. “You as much as said so yourself. So I’m right after all.”
Not to be outdone, Karl fired back, “No, silly. I don’t mean going to South America when you die. I mean ending up below in, you know, H-E-double toothpicks. What if you ended up there?”
“What in the world does toothpicks have to do with any of this?” queried Myrt. “It sounds to me like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Gladdy’s on a permanent vacation so let her soul rest in peace and give her a flower.”
Myrt then grabbed a bow from one of the flower pots and stuck it in her hairnet before doing a victory strut. After all, it was Decoration Day.
[Sr. Nancy Linenkugel is a Sylvania Franciscan sister and chair of the department of Health Services Administration at Xavier University, Cincinnati Ohio.]