REMEMBERING ALETAIn the late evening hours of January 7, 1968 a star was born. Two minutes later, another star was born. And from that moment on my life was catapulted into the hectic days and nights and months and years of raising twins, along with their older sister, the first star.
And the first-born twin was Aleta. She was beautiful, with eyes that sparkled and twinkled, a laugh that tinkled, and a hearthat went out to anyone in need...her family, eventually her children, her patients. For she became a nurse and she was much loved. Once, in college, she went to where there were homeless people and talked with them, trying to understand why their life seemed so hopeless. She loved fiercely.
Excerpt from a teen letter to mom while she visited her older sister: "Dear Mom, Hello! I love you alot and boy do I miss you. I just thought I'd write to let you know how much I love you and that I'll never stop thinking about you. You're the best mom anyone could ever have!............... " Several years ago she became a single parent. She worried about her children all the time. Having grown up in a single parent home, she had emotional needs I never knew about until she was grown and told me. My heart loved her even harder then.
A pre-teen little league cheerleader
Once a hopeful bride.
<>If you walk through a park and see a lady sitting on a bench with her hands over her face, shoulders shaking, that's me....grieving. I lost her on Sunday, May 4 in a freak ATV accident in the mountains in the Tahoe area. I never liked it there, even when she first took me there years ago. She loved it. She thought those God-forsaken, ugly, Nevada/California mountains were so beautiful. Not me. She never had a chance as an adult to see the wonders of the Blue Ridge mountains, the Shenandoahs, the Poconos. So she settled for the shale-covered, barren, whatever mountain range that is. Those mountains took her from me, and I hate them. But it's where she wanted to be.
<>If you hear a loud, haunting wailing in the darkness of the night, that's me, calling for my child to be returned to me. Or perhaps it's her twin, searching for the spirit of her other half.
<> Exerpt from an email I received on Mother's Day, 2006: "Happy Mother's Day Momma! I want to take this minute to explain that it is because of you that my life is so great. I have taken all your words of wisdom and am practicing them now. It's working just fine. Thank you so much for guiding my life the way you do. I miss you so much. Check your mailbox this week to grab your surprise. It may be late but at least I'm consistent, never without you in my mind as the best momma for me!!! I love you..........God Bless you......Rainbow." <>
The thoughtful one.
Always a talker.
Aleta, a hero. She saved her daughter's life before she lost her own. When she was on that icy incline, she put the child off and told her to wait while she got back to a safe place. That's where Aleta's fiance found Lindy - standing by the road waiting for her mommy to come back up that mountainside she slid over, that heavy machine on top of her.
Things she loved:
- Those mountains
- Guinea pigs and bunnies
- Family
- Especially her twin
- Camping and Quadding
- Her precious two boys and one girl
- Her work as an R.N.
-Her fiance
- Life
- Smiling
Excerpt from a note she left me July 2001: " I love you so much....I'll take care of you forever whenever you need me......(heart, heart, xoxo) Dr. Black, BSN, RN"........We always called her Dr. Black! Her fiance told me she woke up that morning in the campsite and said" Isn't it wonderful to wake up next to someone you love?" The week before the tragedy she went to see her twin, and when she got home she sent her beloved twin a bible and a picture of Jesus, with Matthew 5:3-12 marked. She wanted her sister to apply these lessons to her own life. There is a heaviness inside me that won't go away. One third of my heart is broken off, and though it will eventually heal over, it will never be repaired or replaced. And how can a twin left behind ever heal? There is no creativity left in me. All my paints are now put away. I am colorless.
ALETA GAYEL BLACKJust like a beautiful flower. She grew, she blossomed, then she was cut from the stem of life and perished. I am grateful only that she found her spiritual self before she left. I love you my child.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.THIS BLOG IS CLOSED.
A BIRD LOVER BLOGS HERE
"She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot."...Mark Twain
Happy Days with Fiance
Treasures of Aleta's heart
Lindy, Dillon, Jesse
Precious Happy Angel
Loving Lindy
Snuggling with the guinea pig
GPS
Member- Southeastern Division
FOR THOSE IN NEED and STOPPING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN and CHILDREN
Lighting the path to healing: mind, body, spirit NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE 1-800-799-SAFE and RAINN 1-800-656-HOPE STOP THE ABUSE!!!
Thank you Mrs. N.
