Ethyl

I don't really understand how the mind works, but I know when I have something rolling around in my head I need to put it on paper or tell it to someone.  Ethyl came to my mind yesterday ~ so here is the story of Ethyl.

When I ended up in Yuma, Arizona in 2001, I met a friend of mom & dad's named Ethyl.  She was their old high school friend and she lived just down the street from us in the Foothills of Yuma.  Ethyl was a wonderful woman with a great laugh, a sparkle in her eyes and a wonderful whiskey voice. She loved everybody and everybody loved her.  She was a fabulous cook, the life of the party and she loved going shopping at the flea markets and Mexico. She was a mother, a grandmother and a good friend to many.

Ethyl died in December, 2002.  She had just made arrangements for me and my aunts Cindy and Glenva and good friend Evie and maybe even Betty (but I can't remember) to go see "The Nutcracker" at the local high school.  Ethyl had never seen "The Nutcracker" and she told me she had wanted to see it her whole life. I was really looking forward to spending time with some of my favorite people.  She died suddenly about a week before the show.   We went anyway ... but with heavy hearts. I thought about Ethyl through the entire show and about how close she came to seeing something that she could have gone to see year after year but never quite made it.

I always think of Ethyl this time of year and the lesson she left me by her sudden death.  Don't wait to do the things you want and can do now.  Use your good china.  Burn your favorite candle.  Go see "The Nutcracker" if you've always wanted to see it.  Really, what are you waiting for?