One of my greatest fears about coming to Kenya is that one of my family members would pass away while I was away. I almost didn’t commit to coming because of that fear. Deep down, I knew I couldn’t structure my life around the unknown, unpredictable deaths of the people I love, but the thought was in the back of her mind the whole time I prepared to come to Kenya. However, the thought hasn’t crossed my mind once since I arrived. Well today it happened. I just got word that my great Aunt Sue passed away this morning. She was my Grandaddy’s older sister. Aunt Sue may have been older but he was over a foot taller than she was, so she was the “little sister” (much like my brother and me). Aunt Sue loved horses and owned a Western store in Christiansburg, VA. When I graduated from high school, she gave me my very own pair of boots so I could be a cowgirl just like she was. She had two children, Billy and Terry. Aunt Sue never had grandchildren of her own so we were like her grandkids. Her health has been on the rocks for several years now and this isn’t a huge surprise, but it’s still very sad. I haven’t seen her since Thanksgiving. Last November, she pranced into the house with a purple walker and a violet outfit because of course she did. Purple was her favorite color. Everything she owned was purple. It just feels so weird to be here. I can’t go home because I wouldn’t be allowed to renter Kenya for at least 90 days after I left. So here I am. 7,749 miles away from Christiansburg as my family heads to be together. Once again, my thoughts aren’t cohesive. Grief tends to do that to my brain. It will be difficult to celebrate her life alongside my family from this distance. So I’m grieving in my own way. Today that looked like changing out of my blue shirt and into my purple shirt. It felt right. ~ sending big hugs to my family from Nell in Nairobi
