What is your name : Catherine Gascon

Who do you want the poem written for: My Aunt Elaine

Why do you want the poem written: To thank her for being there for me after the birth of my second child, my son, when I had post partum depression

What are the key messages you would like to send: I haven't been able to find the right way to thank her - I can tell her over and over but each time I feel like there has got to be some way to thank her better/more. I want her to know how special she is and how much I admire her, love her, am so proud that she is my Aunt, etc.

Do you have any funny, sad, happy, embarrassing or otherwise memorable moments that you would like to share: Nothing in particular.

Do you have any other comments or thoughts: Ok so I'm not sure if what I'm about to tell you is more information than you need but it all ties into why my Aunt Elaine came down to help me out:I was never very close to my Aunt (on my father's side). My parents divorced while I was very young and my mom moved us away from our alcoholic father in junior high school from Calif to Virginia. So my Aunt, being in CA, and us in VA, just weren't close through the years - we would talk on holidays but that was about it. We always meant to get together but just our daily lives and financial situations would prevent us from flying out to see her and vice versa.Now, my husband is a Marine, we have been married for 10 years. and have lived outside the US more than in. Our last 2 tours were doing embassy duty in Burma and Argentina - both difficult places for me to live. So 2 summers ago, I left ahead of my husband, being 3 months pregnant and wanting to get my care in the US. Stayed with my mom in Virginia, and while I was there, I got a call from Aunt Elaine who tells me my father died. Total shock. Hadn't heard from him for awhile - he distanced himself from the family. So she and another Aunt took care of all the paperwork, etc for me. That was in October. In November, my husband joined us, we start traveling to our next duty station, Southern California. On our way, I have some pregnancy scares - end up flying to my Aunt's house in Northern Ca instead of driving because of the scares. So I get there, have to deal with a memorial service for my dad. Then take off for So. Ca, where we stay in a hotel for 30 days until we get a house - move into the house when I'm 8 months pregnant and all the while knowing my husband is going to deploy to Iraq any day and leave me with a newborn and our 5 year old for a year. But thought I was dealing with it pretty well. So I give birth on Feb 14th, he gets his flight date - Feb 27th. A few days after the baby is born, I go into full force post partum depression (which totally throws me off because I'm not a worrier or someone to get depressed). After I call my Aunt, all I say is, "I don't know what I'm going to do" and she says, "Okay I'm coming down as soon as I can," which ended up being in a few days. She took 3 weeks off work to help her niece she's barely known. When she came down, she took over everything. She even made me eat (the thought of food made me sick and I LOOOOVE food), cooked for my daughter, cleaned the house, do the laundry, wash lots of bottles, found the time to play dress up with my 5 yr old daughter, Sarah, push her on the swing, play with the dog, etc. And toward the end even did the baby's night feedings for me. Here I was, 32 yrs old, and couldn't even run my own house. It was such an awful feeling, a hopeless feeling. She told me she had gone through a panic attack phase about 5 yrs ago and so she knew what I was going through - such a frightening, helpless feeling. She has come back down 2 other times since then. For her to take off work and use her vacation time, spend her own money to fly down - to help me - a niece she's hardly known. Oh and I should mention that she has had to deal with my father's (please forgive the word I use) crap with the alcoholism and prescription drug abuse, etc and then he dies and she comes down and takes care of his daughter.I feel so thankful - well see that's not even the right word - I can't put my thoughts into words but from what I've seen on your website, I have a feeling you can!
Oh and I should mention that we just visited her for thanksgiving and she took the kids for me while I went shopping the day after thanksgiving. She just does all the little things that mean so much - like taking the baby so I can eat my dinner while it's hot and before 9 p.m., taking the first a.m. feeding so I could sleep in. She is so into my kids and gets excited over the littlest things they do. It really touches me that she feels that way because usually it's just the mother getting excited about the baby babbling mama or clapping his hands for the first time, etc.She is always doing stuff for other people and she has been through a lot herself (including her mother dying over the summer, my grandmother). My cousins did comment that since she has come down to help me, she has taken more time to do things for herself and laughs a lot more. And has shown them the same baby pictures over and over. Ha ha. I asked my cousin what I should get her to thank her for helping me during a time when I couldn't imagine how I was going to survive. She said to do something sentimental for my aunt. I know this is a lot but I felt like I needed to tell you the whole story - what I feel led to the post partum depression.
Please email me or call (but it's easier to email when the baby is napping than talk on the phone with the kids screaming in the background). But I don't mind you calling, either.
Thanks so much in advance,Cathie

What style of poem would you prefer (happy, sad, romantic etc.): Something to make her cry - something very "mushy"

Please choose which package you would prefer:Deluxe

An Aunt's Love

Life is full of ups and downs, I guess that's the way it is, I suppose, one minute, you're high and triumphant, and the next, you're dealing with the lows. And that's exactly how I felt afterwards, of course, I'm talking about the birth of my son, but that's when you were there for me, I'd like to thank you for everything you've done. I know haven't been able to find the right words, but that doesn't mean I'm not grateful to the core, I know I've thanked you time and time again, but I just think I can do better, a little more: Because I want you to know that you're special, in fact, I've never said just how wonderful you are, but if my love for you were a distance, then it would be further than the furthest star. I want you to know how much I admire you, and I'm very proud to call you my Aunt, because when it comes to unconditional love, you've proved to me there's no such word as can't. Because I was never very close to you growing up, but that's only because father's drinking tore us apart, we would talk on holidays but that was about it, so our relationship didn't exactly get off to a flying start. Because we always meant to get together, but our lives and purses wouldn't stretch to air miles, so we both just got on without each other, and we shared our distant, but still heartfelt, smiles. As you know, I married a wonderful Marine, so I've lived more outside the US than in, and our last two tours were Burma and Argentina, neither was a place I wanted a new life to begin. So, 3 months pregnant, I headed home, and I must admit, it felt good to back in the States, but I just wasn't prepared for the news about my father, I hadn't accounted for those fickle winds of fates. A month later, my husband joined me, and we started out on the Californian highway, but on our journey, I had some scares, so thankfully, I looked for a safer place to stay. As always, you opened your house and your heart, but then I had to deal with the memorial for my Dad, and then it was off to a hotel for 30 long days, but without a house, that was the only roof that we had. Eventually, we moved in, I was now 8 months pregnant, and I knew my husband would be gone any day soon, but I still thought I was coping and doing OK, but then things started going to rack and ruin. A few days after the baby was born, I went into a full force post partum tail spin, and as I'm not normally a worrier, I'm out of it, and to be honest, I didn't know where to begin. "I don't know what I'm going to do", "Okay, I'm coming down as soon as I can", that's how you answered my cry for help, and within days, our lives had a new plan. You took three weeks off work just to help out, this was to help a niece that you barely knew, and when you came down, you took over everything, and our seed of love, well, it exponentially grew. The thought of food made me sick, but you made sure that I ate my share, you cleaned the house, cooked for my daughter, and when she needed a playmate, you were there. It was laundry, bottles and looking after the dog, for someone on vacation you worked so very hard, and toward the end, you even did the night feeds, and that would have left many weary and battle scarred. But not you, you were so magnificent, especially as I couldn't run my house (a 32 year old), and you confessed you'd shared that same hopeless feeling, but that's another story that one day, could be told. And for years, you had to deal with my father's crap, and then he went and selfishly left this planet Earth, but that never stopped you loving his daughter, and I found out what an Aunt's love can be worth. I have more thanks than Thanksgiving itself, (and thanks for taking the kids for me), and Aunt Elaine, I just wanted to thank you, you've made my world a much better place to be. I also wanted to say "I love you", I guess that's really what these words are for, here's to you, Aunt Elaine, you're truly wonderful, and here's to our everlasting love, for evermore.

Copyright www.agiftofpoetry.co.uk 2009

Allen Jesson

Comments:

Thank you so so so much! I love the entire poem!!!