Auntie Sarah's Last Word

My Aunt Sarah, you know, died this spring. She was 93 and all that. Well, before she died, when she moved into the nursing home last fall, she and her son went to the safe deposit box and went through important things because she was realistic about what was coming next.

In the box were two envelopes (along with all the other stuff). One was addressed to her sister Mary and one to her granddaughter Christine.

She has 6 grandchildren in all, but only Christine was named on the envelope. Sarah opened the envelope, read what was inside, and folded it back up and resealed it. "Do you want me to give it to Christine now?" her son, Christine's father, asked.

"Nah, wait until I die."

Well, 6 months went by with anticipation. Was Christine to inherit something no one else was? Was Sarah going to give her some specific message or wisdom? She is the oldest granddaughter, so perhaps it had something to do with that (as a side note, my grandmother passed a statue of Mary to me recently because I'm the oldest granddaughter, as was she). Christine and her parents pondered and waited.

Sarah died, and a few weeks later, her dad handed her the envelope. He also passed the other one on to Sarah's sister. We have no idea what was in that envelope. But Christine opened it, with her parents and brother and sister-in-law waiting for the news.

It was an article about the evils of birth control.

They'd argued in the past. Friendly disagreements, but still argued about birth control.

And I guess Sarah gets the last word.