Thank you MawMaw

Saturday was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Birmingham. Me, Josh, and Tiffany have been running (really more them than me) to get ready for it. I have been looking forward to it for a while now. Well, when we got there it was raining...not bad...just drizzling. We got there just in time to see the parade of survivors. I did not expect to get emotional but I did. I managed to keep my emotions to myself because I didn't want to be the one who cried and caused a scene. (My whole family was there.)

Growing up I was very close to my MawMaw (my dad's mother). My parents worked a lot so I spent alot of my time with her. She was amazing. As a kid, she played with me and got down on my level. She never left my side when I was with her. She was like having a best friend around all the time. She cooked for me (anything I wanted). She spoiled me. As I got older she became ther person that I wanted to grow up to be. Not because she had an amazing job or a big house. Her job was to keep me and her other grandkids. Her house was a trailer...but she was so proud of what she had and she never complained. I wanted to be like her because she was the most amazing Christian women that I had ever known. She studied the Bible day and night and her TV was never on anything but TBN. She was so kind and gentle. She would give everything she had to other people. She went to Church everytime the doors were open and she prayed and worshiped God diligently. She never doubted God. She never said a bad word about anyone. (My grandfater had an affair when they were younger and married the woman and my MawMaw loved that women and accepted her into her family.)

When I was in middle school my MawMaw was diagnosed with Brest Cancer. It was shocking news to all who knew her. She went through Chemo and Radiation and had a double mastectomy. After a long hard battle, she went into remission. She grew her dark hair back out and started eating super healthy. She followed the doctor's orders exactly and stayed in God's word. She gave God all the glory for saving her life.

Seven years later, it came back. She was keeping my little cousins Jaxon and Gracie at their house. She got disorientated and fell all the way down the stairs. Her arm was broken and they decided to run some tests. The cancer was back and had spread all over her body. She was in the hospital for about two weeks. I was holding her hand when the doctor told us the news. There was nothing more they could do. My dad actually passed out cold. It was horrible. About two weeks later she passed away.

Her name was Ginette Jane Fuquo Aaron. She was born and raised in a small town on the outskirts of Paris. When she was just a young girl she found her father in the basement after he had hanged himself. She went to an all girls Catholic school. She grew up poor. She met my grandfater, Charles Aaron when she was very young. He was stationed in France during World War II. They fell in love and immediately got married. They had their oldest son Eric and middle son Jimmy (My dad) while they still lived in France. She chose the name Jimmy because it was the only American sounding name that she knew. When the war was over, they moved to Chicago and then eventually here to Alabama. She had two other children, Mallick, and Tina. When she found out that my grandfather was having an affiar they divorced and he remarried and moved to Chicago. She never worked and was always poor. When her oldest so Eric's girlfriend June was pregnant with their first daughter Jerrikka, he died in an accident at work. My MawMaw was devistated to say the least. A few years later, Mallick, her youngest son, was bitten by a mosquito and came down with encephalitis. He was in the hospital for a long time but he survived. He has always suffered from short-term memory loss since then.

For a woman who had experienced so much loss and devistation in her life, she was optimistic and happy with what she had. She loved her children and grandchlidren and lived for us. She fought hard in her battle against brest cancer. She was an amazing person and I believe with all my heart that I am who I am today because of her.