Thankgiving 1959, we were at Aunt Wowee's apartment. The apartment was packed with all the relatives having fun and eating Turkey dinner. She was my grandmother' s cousin. I called her Aunt Wowee. I used to scream "Woweeeeee...!"
After dinner and washing dishes into the evening, she sat down at the kitchen table. The relatives were in living room chatting. She caught me running down the hall and screaming. She asked me to be quiet so she can pray. She was a devout catholic who said rosary several times a day into the eighties when she passed. She grabbed my jaw and made me pay attention to her.
She said that she prayed and prayed to get me to hear again. She cried a little bit and did not understand what happened. I looked at her with a smile. I did not fully understand her. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She began ranting with the rosary. I looked at her frail face. She was in late 60s. I stared at her closed eyes and her lips moving.
The last time I saw her in 1970 in the evening before I left her apartment, she was still praying at the kitchen table. She went to church every Sunday. She told me that I must go to church every Sunday. I liked playing hooky from church as it was boring and how can I read the priest's lips when we were in over 100 year old and gigantic church. She was furious, but lacked understanding of my frustrations in lipreading and speaking.
After the funeral, I took the cross off her casket and it still hangs in my room to this day. I thank Wowee for caring and looking over me. I am still deaf to this day and I do appreciate being deaf this way. Silence is golden!
Have a Safe and Happy Holidays!
