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My story is simple and yet complete. When my Aunt was dx with cancer in 1999, the family huddled around her and we knew that we were going to have to be there for her and do anything that we could with her. Being her neice and I was working at the time, I did everything that I could do to help her.
Fast forward, she was able to survive (breast cancer) and lived until 2003. On my Mom's b-day, Nov 1, 2003, my Aunt had come home from work (and I just happened to be off that day) and said she needed to go to the hospital. From the day that I took her in, she never left. The first weekend that she was in the hospital, her sisters from PDK came into the hospital to visit her. They brought her flowers and candy and something else. Don't remember because I was outside crying my eyes out because of the vision that I had just had about my Aunt. But she was so happy to see them. At the time, she was their chapter president.
They were coming from Ennis (which was where the chapter was located) and at that time, she was in Mexia in the hosp which is about 50 to 60 miles away. When she died 14 days later, after I'd called my Mom at the hospital (I was there with her for the last week of her life and there with her the day she died along with one of her sons holding her hand) and told her I was able to call the Chapter VP and another of the sorors and let her know what happened. They were so sorry and asked if there was anything that they could do to help us. I told them I'd let them know.
At the funeral, all of her Sorors showed up and performed their services for her along with my sorority. It was just so moving to see all of us. Her sisters continued to stay in contact with me and the family after my Aunt passed away. It was hard for me because we are both members of DST and she was my Aunt that I'd known and lived next too on the farm for 21 years. But both my Sorors and hers were so concerned about me and the family that it helped me to be able to pick up the pieces of my life at that time and keep my head from falling into a giant chasm.
FF to 2008. In cleaning out a storage shed on the property, I knew that she had some of PDK's belonging's (since she was the Chapter Pres at the time) I found them again. I was able to call up the current Chapter Pres (and she knew EXACTLY who I was) and let her know that I needed to get their belongings back to them. I was able to meet with her and talk with her and it was like they still wanted to know how everything was going and how the family was--even after 5 years had passed. It was just amazing to see that sisterhood, even through death, can still be present.
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