My Aunt Dagmar

My aunt Dagmar was a really wonderful person. She had always been there for me from the time I was very young. She always seemed to care and listen when I spoke. Last May my family and I went to see her in Germany, knowing that she could pass away very soon because she’d been diagnosed with cancer.
    
Her daughter had died at a young age, and there had been much loss in her family. Her husband, Adi, had died five years before our visit, and that really seemed to affect her. She truly missed him. Once my auntie Meena asked Aunt Dagmar a question, “If you could live anywhere in the world where would you choose?”
    
“I would live anywhere as long as I am with Adi,” Dagmar replied.
    
Aunt Dagmar had lung cancer. We had come to visit her right after her radiation treatments and between therapies. We were happy that we came at a time when she was feeling fairly well. She had the energy to be with us the whole time we were there. On our trip to Germany, Aunt Dagmar showed us many wonderful places. She found us a modern yet historic hotel near her apartment, and we got to live on a houseboat in Amsterdam, Holland, for a day. We had a picnic on the Rhine River. Aunt Dagmar let me ride her old German bike to the river. She got us the best strawberries I’ve ever tasted.
    
We enjoyed her company in a special way, knowing that we might never see her again. Because she was raised there, Aunt Dagmar knew a lot about Germany. She shared many of her favorite places with us.
    
It was about two weeks after we arrived home that Aunt Dagmar died. I am grateful that we went to Germany last spring to have time with her.
    
When I think back on these memories, I’m happy, but I miss her. Our visit was my family’s last token of love to Aunt Dagmar.