Aunt Mozelle

This woman died shortly after my mother died in 1994. She was my mother's sister. If you lived in Mount Rainier, you may have seen her when I picked her up in Screven, Georgia, and brought her here to visit.

Aunt Mozelle was a character. Although she could not fully use her limbs and body, she learned to use what she had and made them work for her.

Aunt Mozelle learned how to cook, clean, walk, talk, and carry out many routine functions that many thought were impossible. Her parents were told that she would be dead by age five (5) or sooner, but she went on to live to be sixty-six (66) years old. She grieved herself to death.

Moze, as I so fondly called her, had one heck of a sense of humor. She learned to laugh at you, herself, and much more. She learned early not to take things too seriously. She practiced observing the world around her and acting accordingly. I don't think she understood or accepted the word no. No, you will never walk. Okay, I will walk, maybe not like everyone else, but I will walk. No, you can't talk. Yes, I can. You have to figure out how to understand me.

Moze could make her bed. Clean the kitchen, walk to town or wherever she wanted to go, and Lord would she tell on you. YEP, Moze would tell. She was also an excellent babysitter. Moze taught me how to bake cakes and cookies and helped me give my mother a birthday party when I was only seven (7) years old. Mother had almost fifty (50) guests, and we did not run out of food.

Needless to say, I am thinking about Moze again today. I have thought about her the entire month of February. Moze's birthday was on February 9; she would have been Ninty-six (96) years old, and I miss her. Oh well, Moze lived her life and lived it well.

Thank God for making Moze a part of my life and for the opportunity to get to know the real Aunt Mozelle. Not the stories about how she scared me, but stories I know and lived with the real Aunt Mozelle! Those stories that still thrill my heart to this very day.

Rest well, Moze, until God says rise. I love you very much.