I Got My Dating Chops from Aunt Zaida

Celebrating her defiantly. 🖕🏼🥰

My Aunt Zaida died the week before last. She requested no memorial, no obituary, no eulogy. Shutting me up for almost two whole weeks.

I do like to honor people’s dying wishes. I’m still knee-deep in my dad’s. And yet after people die, I also know I get to choose how I honor their requests.

So here I am. In my grief at losing Aunt Zaida. Against her wishes. Because counter will runs in our family.

My dad was Aunt Zaida’s older brother.

My dad was the eldest of eight children, and now four are dead. Two junior high classmates of mine also died recently. Death feels close these days.

Many reminders of how precious our lives are and how no one knows when they will end.

According to all reports, my Aunt Zaida was ready to die. She was 85 and suffered from Parkinson’s in her last years. She suffered many losses before losing control of her body.

My Aunt Zaid…