From page 74 of my dear Aunt Crosby Christina’s memoir, A Body, Undone:
“On (Tuesday) January 5, 2010, my brother, Jeff, died.  He was fifty-seven and almost completely paralyzed from multiple sclerosis…”

From me:
On Tuesday January 5, 2021, my aunt, Tina, died.  She was sixty-seven and almost completely paralyzed from a bicycling accident 17 years earlier.  

At 1:30 am, Christina transitioned from this life, thereby completing some sort of uncanny, ironic, and strange connection that she and my dad shared.  Their lives both ended with a sudden turn on New Year’s Eve (a Thursday in both 2010 and 2021) and quickly declined over the next 5 days, but not before loved ones had time, though not enough, never enough time, to say goodbye.  For my dad, we gathered for 5 days singing hymns, sharing stories, crying and laughing.  It was a collective grief, in person.  Because of stupid Covid, Janet- the warrior that she is- held the phone so that loved ones could share stories, say goodbyes, and cry “together.”

I am now picturing my dad driving a VW van, with the 6ft sun roof wide open, him relishing shifting through the gears and my aunt hunched down in racing position on a bicycle that can morph into and out of a motorcycle.  And they’re going FAST. They loved speed.  But even with this happy image, this loss is monumental.  Tina was my last connection directly to my dad.  In the 11 years that he has been gone, she has served to piece together stories, confirm family facts, and generally offer incredible amounts of peace to me by simply being in her presence or talking with her on the phone.  She was so incredibly special.  While this is all overwhelmingly sad and tragic, I am finding comfort in the hauntingly beautiful way that Christina’s last days mirrored my dad’s. 

Also from me: my Grandmommy fell on Monday morning and broke her hip.  On January 5, 2021, she made it through that surgery at age 96 1/2 no doubt having decided that this day was for Tina and my dad.  

Also also from me: On January 5, 2021, dear Verna, a wise and strong woman I had the pleasure of knowing my entire life through church and who once came over to teach Justin how to make my nana & great aunts’ wet-bottom shoo fly pie, died.  She and her husband, Rodney Moseman, who died in December, bicycled all over the world, often on a tandem bike that Rodney built.  They are, for sure, riding in heaven and loving every minute of it.  

 It seems true that extra bright lights die on January 5th.