You may remember my Aunt Caroline from Atlanta radio in the '80s and '90s. She would do her "Accu-Porch Weather Forecast" on my afternoon show every weekday for a decade.  Initially, what made Aunt Caroline truly unique to the average listener is that she was a hard-of-hearing octogenarian whose father had been a New England sea captain who taught her how to read the skies for weather. She was more accurate than Glen Burns! Every day Aunt C would go out to get her mail and study the skies for me, then I'd call her and tape her "report." What became magical about her broadcasts is that she and I would chat a bit, and listeners really got to know and love her. She became quite the celebrity in her little neighborhood near Emory. When we had to help her sell her beloved home when she couldn't take care of it anymore, she was tickled to know the people that moved in were fans of hers. 

Aunt Caroline was my grandfather's brother's wife's sister -- in other words, she was not a blood relative. You'd never know it. She and Uncle Arthur took my family under their wings when we moved here from New England in 1970 when I was 10. They were surrogate grandparents to my little brother and me, and I think that was almost as important to them as it was to us since they didn't have children of their own.

Aunt Caroline was fascinating! She was an artist who painted with oils and made delicate, intricate Christmas ornaments that are achingly beautiful. Uncle Arthur was a forester, so they were world travelers who even lived in Chile for a while. Aunt Caroline was physically fit her whole life -- she had been a P.E. teacher as a young woman. She was very smart -- she kept up by reading voraciously, and she loved watching the news. Boy, was she good at Trivial Pursuits!  Everybody in the family always wanted her on their team because she had lived so long she knew most of the answers. Her agile, clever mind and sharp wit were still strong when she died in 2001 at the age of 103. Oh, how I miss her!

I didn't know until her years in the nursing home that Aunt Caroline was a breast cancer survivor. I was helping change her clothes one day and saw her mastectomy scars. She asked me if I had known, and I said no. Aunt Caroline was a very private person, so I didn't ask any more.  That was all that we said about it -- ever. But what struck me about that moment that day (and to this day even more so) is that, in my lifetime, Aunt Caroline's breast cancer did not define her at all -- not one iota. THAT is a life well lived!

So this Monday I will reflect on the soldiers who have lost their lives for my freedom. I will think of my hero -- my Dad. I will remember my grandparents, and the wonderful aunts, uncles, and friends I have lost. But in this year of my battle with breast cancer, I will especially remember dear Aunt Caroline -- her courage, her generosity, her love of life, her grace...

I will start our Memorial wall with Aunt C's name -- please add your loved one's name below with a line about him or her, and encourage your family, friends, and co-workers to do the same for this Memorial Day holiday weekend.