Today would have been my Aunt Sherri's 52nd birthday.
I miss her.
I debated back and forth whether to write something here about the recent passing of my dear aunt. I thought what Amanda wrote was perfect and don't really know that I could do her memory justice quite as well as my sister did. On the other hand, there are so many good things to remember, and I don't want to let some of those cherished memories slip away.
A couple of months ago, while my Aunt Terri (Sherri's identical twin) was recovering from some type of a brain hemorrhage, our family was on edge. We were sick with worry. Sherri called to update us and to request extra prayers when things weren't looking good. Sherri always made sure the doctors were doing their jobs and was the constant vigil whenever anyone was in the hospital.
Aunts Sherri (left) and Terri on their recent girls' trip to Disney World this past spring.
They both loved Disney World!
Aunt Sherri was the medical expert of the family. She told me once that when she was growing up, most women who worked outside of the home were either teachers or nurses. She became a nurse.
I remember visiting her once or twice in the Emergency Room where she worked when I was a kid. She really seemed in her element - she had lots of friends that she worked with and was well respected. My general practitioner used to moonlight in the ER with her on occasion, and he still asks me regularly how my Aunt Sherri is doing.
Sherri told me that she knew she'd never be able to advance in her career if she didn't continue her education, and as a result, she once again put herself through school. This time, she completed her nurse practitioner's degree as a single mom while working full time all at the same time.
For the last several years, she has served as the nurse practitioner for an HIV/AIDs clinic. It was extremely emotionally demanding, and I don't know how she did it. It was a hard job. But, it was a job that someone had to do, and I think Sherri really felt a calling to serve in this way. She talked about how she couldn't have done her job without knowing such a loving and forgiving God... it would have been too difficult. She felt like she was called to love others in that clinic and saw it as a ministry.
While the job was extremely hard at times, I hope she knows that she was making a difference. For 7 years, she had a 100% success rate in protecting new babies from contracting HIV from their mothers. At the time that she had her first patient to deliver an HIV-positive baby, another mother named her healthy child partly after my aunt. I don't know how she did it. I can't imagine how hard that job was on her. At the same time of devastation, she was also honored in another situation.
I really looked up to Sherri. I had originally enrolled in college as pre-med, but Aunt Sherri gave me some really wise advice. She told me that I should think long and hard about going into the medical field if I wanted to be able to have a family. Doctors have long hours. She suggested I apply for a medical shadowing program. I did, and was accepted (I wrote my application essay about how I looked up to her as a nurse). I shadowed a local doctor and by the end of the program decided that she was right. I wasn't willing to dedicate the next ten years towards school to pursue a career that would demand so much of my time.
I switched to engineering.
Sherri and my cousin, Rachel.
About two years ago, out of the blue, Sherri called to see if I would like to have my grandparents' wedding china. She had decided that she had "too much stuff", and wanted me to have some of it. I was absolutely thrilled. She gave me the china, along with my grandfather's pipe and the first photos of him that I had ever owned. She spent a good bit of time talking with me about him, about how much she loved him, how much he doted on me, and told me stories about him I'd never heard before.
Since then, I really felt like she became much more than just my aunt. We had girls' lunches with my sisters and my Aunt Terri, and also with just the two of us. I attended church with her this past winter, and we spent the afternoon together. I loved seeing how she, a Catholic, worshiped, and she equally enjoyed explaining the rituals and theology to me. We talked religion, love, and life. She helped me through a really tough winter and gave really good advice about all sorts of things.
I don't know why she was taken so young
.
What I do know is that she had a lot of trials and sadness in her life, and I have no doubt that she is now joyfully singing praises in her Heavenly home, free from pain, sickness, disappointment, and sorrow with only eternity before her.
I really miss her.
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.
Isaiah 25:8a
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