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When I was eight years old one of my father's sisters was dying of colon cancer. The cancer was too far along for my aunt to be cured.
At only eight years old I didn't understand death. I cried knowing my aunt was soon going to die. Death didn't make sense to me. How come there wasn't a medicine to stop the cancer? Why couldn't something be done to provide her a cure?
My parents took my aunt, her husband, me, my brothers, and my sisters to San Francisco.
It was a final farewell trip, a bon voyage.
In San Francisco we went to the zoo. We went to the Fisherman's Wharf. We went to Telegraph Hill. We visited the Presidio. We went down windy Lombard Street. We played in the sand on the beach watching the waves roll in. We went to the de Young and other museums. We went to Chinatown. We saw the famous trolley cars. We went across the Golden Gate Bridge of course. We went to all the famous tourist spots in San Francisco.
I was bewildered how my dying aunt could appear to be so happy.
I was momentarily happy too.
My aunt obviously couldn't have cancer.
The doctors must have made a mistake.
My aunt was too calm, too normal. She didn't seem angry or upset at all. At one moment as we walked in Golden Gate Park my aunt put a flower in her hair.
Some weeks later one evening I was home when our telephone rang.
The caller said my aunt had died.
In tears I ran to my bedroom.
I cried on my bed.
I will always love my aunt.
Today I heard on YouTube a song called "San Francisco" by Scott McKenzie.
The song explains why my aunt in San Francisco put a flower in her hair. 🌺
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