My Aunt...

One of my favorite photos :)

My aunt has two weeks to live….at best a month…If my Aunt Casee was 89 and had watched her third grader and seventh grader develop into successful, loving men with lives a mother could be proud of then it makes the next month a little easier. Yet, Casee is only ten years older than me and at 40 it seems to be cut way too short.

She has battled cancer….not just battled but kicked it’s ass time and time again….she’s done it because of her will power and some would say her stubbornness….but cancer seems to never back down….it’s hid for a while, making life manageable and at times close to normal, but the last six months it’s come back to a point that draws her earthly presence to a close.

Ms. Josie and her momma...a fine companion.

As the favorite niece (she would chime in here…”Honey, for 29 years you were the only niece so I didn’t have many options.”) and not being that much older than me….Aunt Casee serves as the go-between …..She is the adult, young and cool enough, whom I needed to help explain my mother’s good intentions. I think I speak for my cousins and brother on this…you can always call her, text her, instant message her, email her, or stop in and just chat with her for a good conversation and discussion about important life decisions without feeling parented, but accepted and loved just as much as our parents do. You have no idea how much I'm going to miss that. 

The annual Christmas family photos
will never look the same.

She also was the aunt at every baseball game. Rain or shine, sick or healthy, hundreds of miles away or out the backdoor of Grandpa Bums she had her lawn chair, pop and respective school shirt on. She knew every kid on every team, she cheered them on, laughed with parents, high fived coaches and joked with umps. She was the smile you needed after a bad play or the loudest cheer you heard after one of the boys struck someone out. Talk about having a number one fan…she was it and then some. And no matter what happens within our family regarding baseball whether there will be a major league game in our future or while her boys play catch outside Grandpa Bum’s backyard  – I know she’ll have the best seat in the house.



Now, most people know how close our family is…to a point a little scary J…but growing up, we’d spend Sunday afternoons having dinner at Grandpa Bum’s house. Casee still lived at home when I was little. She’d come downstairs, just rolling out of bed at noon to have lunch and be teased by the uncles about the previous night’s festivities. I also remember going with my mom to take pictures of her at her senior prom, watching her in the band, talking about boyfriends and even once bringing a boy to Christmas…poor guy never stood a chance J See it takes something special to make it in our family – you either need to be able to give it right back when crap is given to you or loud enough so people will hear you. You stand the best chance if you’re both– it seems we all have pretty loud voices and are a tad sarcastic with an odd humor. But together, we get each other. Our family calendar this year has the slogan. “We may not have it all together, but together we have it all”

We often tease each other about having friends that aren’t family…”You what? You’re going shopping with someone you’re not related to? Are you okay??” – see a tad sarcastic and oddly humorous J Yet, thanks to Facebook – we, as a family, can see how blessed Casee’s life and journey has been with the many hundreds of Facebook messages and posts and how much impact she’s had on so many friends inside and outside our family.



Casee with Uncle Trent and Wyatt
during the Cancer Survivor Walk



And as we celebrate Casee, please continue to pray for her that the next two weeks or however long she has is peaceful and filled with love. Pray for her two boys Wyatt and Rayce who will need reminders throughout their life that God never makes life fair, He just makes it worth it so I pray they always find peace, love and kindness and that they show others how to do the same just as their Mommy did. And pray for my Uncle Tim as he moves forward to be the mom and dad of these two little guys. Give him the strength and patience of two people and show him the love he needs through this all. Also say prayers for my family – my Grandparents, my aunts and uncles, my mom and dad and all my cousins and my brother…. this is the first loss we’ve had within our immediate Loomis family and just thinking about not having someone there seems so foreign….I’ll miss her Hamburger Helper dish to pass and not being able to draw her name for Christmas gifts or sharing the latest gossip… I’m just gonna miss her so much.

At times like this I hear people say, "don’t let this test your faith or this really makes one question their relationship with God"….well that’s far from the truth. The reality is we all die, death does not test faith – it just provides us with another reason to grow and trust in God. The crappy part about being human though, is that God doesn’t usually tell us when our time to join Him is coming.  And there could be discussion on if you’d really want God to tell you or not.

For some, like Casee, He’s shown a little peak of His timeline and we all know it’s close….and what an amazing opportunity for so many to celebrate the awesome aunt, mom, sister, daughter, cousin, wife, friend that she is, while she’s still here and can read Facebook posts and texts, while she can see you at the lake and hold your hand, while she can watch her sons run around and smile knowing they will be surrounded not only by God’s hands, but by a whole community who will see to it that as she looks down, sitting next to God’s side, she can watch them grow and develop into successful, loving men with lives a mother will always be proud of.



A family photo to cherish forever.