TRIBUTE TO A DEAR FRIEND AND COUSIN

UHHHHH!!!! I hate to wake up nauseous,especially when laying back down to wait for it to pass is not an option. As I did chores and got ready for market this morning I kept wondering if I was going to make it and if I should just call the day off  for a while. I kept trying to push through the yucky feeling because I had several orders and didn't want those folks to make a trip to market for nothing so on I went.
As the morning wore on and I munched on crackers and hot tea I got steadily better,thank you Lord !
I had a pretty good selling day at market so I was glad I plugged on this morning.
I left market a little early to make a couple Avon deliveries before running weekly errands and picking up baking supplies for tomorrow. I got a large cake order today for Saturday.
I am whipped tonight from fighting the nausea of the morning plus not eating anything all day but crackers. I had a grilled cheese sandwich for supper with more crackers and plan on an early bedtime.
All through the day today I received updates on cousin Connie. Hubbie checked on her husband and kids around lunch and found them still just waiting by her bedside at Hospice House.
Finally around  5pm this evening we got word that she had passed. I am thankful that she is out of her sickened body tonight but my heart goes out to her family who will miss her so much.
I took time to search through my photos for memories of her.
As I said before we were friends in school.Here is a 7th grade pic of her.

And in 9th grade.

We had different interest in school, I got interested in basketball and she focused on boys a bit earlier than I did. She got married while still in high school and switched schools for the last year. I remember at one time she wanted me to go out with her husbands brother, but he wasn't my type so we drifted apart busy with our own lives for several years.
Life has a way sometimes of reuniting us with people of our past from time to time and that is exactly what happened with Connie and I.
When I met hubbie in the late 70's I had no idea that he was Connie's first cousin until I went to meet his grandmother. All his mother's family gathered each Sunday after church for lunch at his grandmother's house. Connie's mother and hubbie's mother were sisters.
After hubbie and I were married Connie and I were pregnant at the same time, we each delivered a baby boy within a month of each other in the fall of 1981. These 2 boys became great friends, stayed friends all through school, worked together after they graduated, stood up for each other at each others weddings and hopefully will remain friends for all the future.
This is Connie with her 2 children by her second marriage at her daughter's birthday party in May 1984. She is holding onto her son while helping daughter blow out her candles.All the young cousins always celebrated birthdays together.

Our boys were in Cub Scouts together and Connie and I took them to scout camp at Camp Daniel Boone in the summer of 1988. Here she is in a boat with her son and another mom and scout teaching the boys to row.

There were about 14 small cousins in our family at that time and Sunday's were always a special time to get all of them together at Granny's.  This is Easter 1987 at our annual Easter hunt in granny's yard. Connie is in the red shirt.

Here she is again at Christmas that year still in a red shirt.

This is a birthday party for my #2 son on his 6th birthday in March of 1989. She seemed to always have a smile on her face.

I remember this photo, in December of 1992 daughter had begged me for a camera before Christmas, so she was snapping pictures of everyone that would let her on that Sunday and of course Connie gave her a big smile.

 As I said she was not only my friend but hubbie's first cousin. They were  very close in age so they spent a lot of time together growing up.
Unfortunately there are no dates on these photos. This is hubbie and Connie celebrating someone's birthday.

Here they are with Connie's older sister and hubbie's younger brother with Granny.

And this is another photo of the cousin's with their granny celebrating granny's and little brother's birthday which is on the same day. Connie has a new puppy !!!

This world has lost a loving daughter, wife,mother, grandmother ,niece , aunt and friend tonight but God has gained another special  Angel.
In the days to come we will be doing what we can to comfort the family and praying that they find peace in dealing with the loss. It doesn't seem fair that someone be taken away at the age of 58 but tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us.
Only God knows the timing of our lives and I can live with the comfort that He has a plan for me.
Good Night and God Bless.