Received a text from Aunt Carolyn this afternoon. She's 82 and the last surviving relative of my parent's generation. She's not in good health, but refuses to complain.

Long texts are difficult for me, so I suggested talking on the phone.

"Well, I'd love to darlin'!"

We like to reminisce about my Mom's mom, her mother-in-law, gone now 25 years—the rock of the family. Sonny, her husband, died about 8 years ago, and we don't talk about him much because big tears come for both of us.

Carolyn has 3 children whom I know and love, girls, my cousins, 14 grandchildren I don't know very well and a dozen great-grandchildren I've never met.

Her family is her everything and probably the biggest reason she hangs on, but she's ready to go "when the Lord calls me."

Carolyn brought up my Mom and how "crazy" she was and how everyone loved her anyway. We laughed though tears. They were very close, like sisters.

It was good to catch up. I saw Carolyn at Thanksgiving and dearly hope I can see her again. ❤️

📷 My photo of Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Sonny on their wedding day. He was 19 and she was 17. It sits on her mantle.

RE: https://mas.to/@therightarticle/116300144161152058

If ever there was proof of the damage done by neoliberalism, this is it! The second wave (which killed 87,000 people in UK) was driven almost entirely by Sunak’s “eat out to help out”, and Johnson’s defying the experts to ‘save Christmas’.
It is extraordinary that you can kill tens of thousands of people with your obsession with the economy, and yet face absolutely no consequences.
Mind you, that’s nothing compared to the death toll that climate inaction will produce.