Happy birthday to my aunt

My dad's oldest sister is the only remaining aunt I have.  

Since both my mother and my father were (almost) the youngest in their families and so am I, I have not had much contact or memories with my grandparents. My mother has already lost all her sisters and brother and my dad had already lost a sister a long time ago as well. So I only have one living aunt left and my uncle's widow and my aunt's widower. 

My dad's sister is turning a whopping 98 years old today.  She was a little bit a surrogate mother to my dad, since she was 19 years older and she lived with her family 3 houses further down the road.  My father has spent a lot of his youth among her family and children.  

Her husband Arnold was my godfather and her welcoming house gave me an idea what it would be like to visit a grandparent as generations have shifted a little in our family.  She's born in Canada and had her childhood there before my grandparent's remigrated back to Belgium with their family, where my dad got born years later.

Previous week my mother, my sister and I had to arrange a lot of practical administration in the aftermath of my father's passing. I had a bit more than an hour left before I had to return home so I made the last minute decision to drive to visit her as I hadn't seen her in quite a while.  This lady has not only lost her husband, but also a leg and her eye-sight,  and more recently some children.  Life has not been easy on her over the last decade to say the least but she's always been an incredibly strong woman.

I'm glad I was able to hop over and I learned she has her birthday today. Happy birthday, aunt!!!