Aunt Martha

My Aunt Martha's funeral was today. My Uncle Richard, Aunt Martha's brother-in-law, said I should write a book about life. I think Aunt Martha would like that.
Life is not planned, yet, it is. I always knew I would be a reporter. But there was no way I was going to be a mom, let alone a grandma. I really didn't want the responsibility. But I ended up with five kids and a bunch of grandkids. It happened all because I married a man who is really, really good with kids.
He never thought of himself as a pet owner. But we have had dogs, turtles and birds because I really, really like animals.
I didn't think I would be a woman who enjoyed gardening flowers or crocheting. I do enjoy pruning my roses and watering them. I'm not crazy about pulling weeds. I didn't think the stuff I learned in botony would ever be useful but some of the tidbits of info filter in.
I miss Aunt Martha. She was a fun woman. She laughed when others may not have laughed. She saw through people. She knew who was putting on an act and who was for real.
My pet parakeet, Birdie, died on Monday. I think I killed her. I wanted to say I caused her death because that sounded nicer. But a week ago when I left for work I opened the living room window next to Birdie's cage because it was warm in the house. I left work and went straight to the hospital where Aunt Martha was. I ended up staying late because things weren't going well and it was obvious Uncle Bob needed some support. When I got home, I failed to shut the window and temperatures dropped.
Birdie, I'm sure, caught a chill and got sick. It didn't help when I changed her food in her food dish I forgot to put food in the food dish.
So on Sunday, Father's Day, Birdie was hanging almost upside down from her perch. It was obvisious she was very, very sick. Monday morning, she was dead.
Rod and I went for a walk last night. I love going for a walk with him. It forces him to talk to me. He gets nervous if he thinks we're invading someone's private space. There was an accident down the street and you'd think with all the lights it was something major. But when we got there it was just a fender bender.
I hate walking in the same direction cars go. I like walking even if there's a sidewalk so I can see the cars coming at me. It's from years of walking to school and having cars honk behind me and scaring me to death. I want to see death in the face.
Anyway I insisted on crossing the street so we could walk north while traffic headed south. Rod was worried we were invading the private space of those involved in the accident because they were sitting on the sidewalk.
The sidewalk is a public place. I'm not going to stop and ask them questions. Now if it was one of those really traumatic accidents, I might stop:)