This week Brad and I were in Peoria, Illinois to say goodbye to a special person, my mom's oldest sister, Colleen, who passed away last Saturday. Here she is in 1997 with her goddaughter, my sister Kelle.
Aunt Colleen was the mother of ten, the grandmother of 22, and the great-grandmother of countless more. I was always amazed at how, with such a large family of her own, she still found time to be thoughtful to her extended family. As one example, we were at a family gathering in the summer of 1997 in Aurora, Illinois with a lot of relatives (including Colleen) and a
lot of little kids. (That's John in the front and Mary in the middle of the back.) Aunt Colleen brought the kids a big bag of these play balls. There were loads of balls - way more than any parent would ever buy. The kids were ecstatic. Aunt Colleen knew that keeping little kids happy didn't have to be complicated. On that day, a bunch of balls and a big backyard was all it took.
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