Page 60 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine
P. 60
HONORING SENIORS
2 2
Senior Senior Not All
ver since I was little, I have Angels
had an infatuation with
Eangels. I have read verse
after verse about their brilliant
strength, blended with their Have
nobility and grace. Time and time
again, I have found myself in awe
over depictions of their golden- Wings
glowing garments, ethereal halos
and magnificent wings. But not all
angels live in heaven, and not all
angels have wings. Mine dwells in
Thomasville, Georgia and spends by Annie Hoffman
her days baking scrumptious
lemon pound cake and serving as a
school teacher for young children. Georgia to Texas, so she could
Her name is Florence McMillan, stay with my mom and me. I was
and although she is technically only two at the time, so I was
my second cousin, she has always especially sensitive and confused
been a grandmother figure to me, by the sudden and drastic changes
as well as a best-friend. Many we were experiencing. However,
noteworthy qualities come to the crisis has not really left a huge
mind. Trustworthy? Always. Kind? to wait on Diddy hand and foot, detrimental imprint on my life. I
Undeniably. Patient? Without a keep the house tidy, the garden owe this entirely to my “angel”.
doubt. Generous? Yes, lavishly tended, delicious meals on the Every day, she would pack a bottle
generous. But Florence’s most table, and her class still receiving of bubbles and an amazing lunch
remarkable trait is her generous, the best education she could offer. and take me to the park. Instead
selfless love. Until the death of her mother of letting me be stuck inside a new
several years ago, Florence served and unfamiliar home, she somehow
Born in 1942, and growing up as her primary caregiver. She knew how healthy the sunshine
as an only child, Florence was fully dedicated herself as a way of would be for me. Florence pushed
inseparable from her mother, saying “thank you” to the woman me on the swing set for hours at a
affectionately nicknamed “Diddy.” who raised her into the sensational time, and those days which might
Since Florence’s birth, Diddy person she is. have been the most negative, were
poured everything she had into actually some of the loveliest,
her beloved daughter. But as she In 2002, my family went through thanks to her magic.
aged, their roles began to reverse. a tremendous change; my parents
Florence was teaching grade school split up. During this time of not Due to the unfortunate distance
during that season, but she devoted only adjustment but also extreme separating me from Florence, I
herself to the care and comfort of struggle, who was there to lift don’t get to see her as often as I
her dear mother in her old age. The me up? Florence. She hopped on would like. About once every two
two lived together, so she was able a plane and flew straight from years, we take a flight down to
60 Lubbock Senior Link
