Aunt Claire's Death

Aunt Claire died five days ago. She had celebrated her ninety-seventh birthday on January 11. The funeral was at St. Anthony of Padua Church, in Ambler, Pa--a viewing, then mass, then Aunt Claire was whisked away to be cremated.
She always had a sense of style and she looked very nice in her coffin. Her wavy white hair was freshly washed, her nails were polished, and she wore a pretty pink suit. With a skirt.
On the lapel was a rhinestone pin, the kind of rather garish ornament a child would select. A child had: Judy had given it to Aunt Claire years before, when she was a little girl. The pin said, "Mother," but there was no little girl to mourn her.
Life is a bitch sometimes.