Today, January the third, in addition to being the eleventh day of Christmas, which I discussed here on Blogger this morning, is the day my great aunt Grace Fitchie was born; over one hundred years ago! She is pictured in the photograph posted above, standing in the middle of the last row next to my grandmother, Clara May, who is at Grace's left side. I blogged about Grace Fitchie in January of 2011 and prior to that, I published a post here in February of 2010.
Aunt Grace was an influence on my knowing the value of sending cards. One that she sent me, over fifty years ago, (pictured below) is still an impetus for me to continue to persevere in the new year with my designs of cards.
At this juncture of my endeavor, these are in postcard format and feature fauna, flora and insects as subjects. Thumbnails of these cards can be seen in the following images.
But getting back to Aunt Grace's card, I received it in the summer before I was to enter junior high school which is something I've mentioned here on Blogger, stating,"That summer had been hard. I was very overwhelmed: My father had moved away the year prior, my Neurofibromatosis was now causing bumps to appear everywhere on my body. I wanted contact lenses, because my left eye was frequently turning inward from the lack of acuity that it had, and my eye-doctor had told my parents that contacts would help with this problem as well as help to correct my low vision. Additionally, I would be attending a new school in the fall —the junior high school — where I would be going from room to room for various classes as opposed to having everything taught in one room, and I was nervous I would not have time between classes to arrive on time. I even thought of my possibly missing the elementary school kids despite the fact that they didn't pick me to be on their Murder Ball team because of my low depth perception causing me to be an 'easy-out.' At least they had seen my physical problems and the teasing me about them had subsided; now I'd have to start all over again by being with different kids."
"Most of all, I was overwhelmed because I could not comfort my mother, who cried constantly over my father's leaving us. I knew I could share these thoughts with my Great-Aunt Grace, who often 'baby-sat' when my mother needed someone to take care of me. I was looking forward to seeing Grace on my birthday, but that was not to be. My dear great-aunt died unexpectedly in her sleep. She had been discovered dead, by her land-lady, after having turned blue in her bed. I still received the birthday card that she had put in the mail prior to her fatal day. It arrived (featured below out of its frame) the day after I got the news that she had died, and it was to let me know she'd be thinking of me on "my day" as she called it. On the back of the card (seen in the image below) my Great Aunt wrote, 'Will see you before long.'"
And I always remembered her as having been to the World's Fair (as seen below) in New York City, which even as a child, is a place where I wanted to live.
Too bad I never got to experience NYC with her in the physical sense, but in other ways she is very much with me. Happy Birthday to you, my beloved Aunt Grace Fitchie, and thanks for all you did for me! Now, please intercede for me!
ADDENDUM JANUARY 5, 2024:
It has just been brought to my attention that Grace Fitchie was born on January 5th, 1898, NOT January 3rd! Details can be found on my FB Page @ https://www.facebook.com/patricia.youngquist.5/posts/pfbid0oFGLWdyD73HsjunyYvtbD3N6yhU4tHBBwqPVprFgRhQcn421KcviDGb6Ceye37Vsl
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