A Tribute to My Favorite Aunt, a Wonderful Woman

This is not a review.  There are pictures of food, but this is not a review. 

The thing about food is that as much as it can bring people closer, it can also put the past to rest.  Or so FeistyMom tells me; I didn’t quite understand the words she was saying (in Cantonese), but I could feel the emotion and the meaning behind them.  It seems that regardless of occasion, we eat; she said that after a wake/funeral, a big meal is shared with the attendees to … drive away? to send off? to say farewell, essentially, to the loved one. 

As such, as we bid farewell to my aunt, the only aunt who’d been there throughout my entire life, who saw me from baby to grown woman, to my mother’s friend, confidant, sister-in-law… they’d known each other since they were 16… we ate. 

Always perfectly coiffed, to the last I ever saw her (which I referenced here), always with something to tell you, to make you laugh, my aunt was a large part of my life when I was growing up. 

I was touched by how many came to pay their respects, to share their stories and funny memories of times they’d shared with her, something I would never be able to fully know, a side of her I didn’t see,

but the tears flowed seeing how she’d clearly touched so many people’s lives, not just mine, my siblings’ nor my cousins’ (her children), of course. 

My aunt was an incredible person, loved by so many people, for good reason. 

She was kind, generous, loving, and had the great fortune to be able to meet her grandson, spend time with him before she had to leave us. 

The world is sincerely at a loss without her. 

Sometimes you don’t even realize how important someone is to you until they are gone.  I was extremely fortunate to have her as my aunt, and to know just how important she was in my life before she died.  I hope our feast made her proud, and that she rests in eternal peace.

Love you, Aunt Letty.  Rest in peace.