Prayers for Phyllis

I know everyone has so many folks to pray for this time of year, but if you wouldn’t mind adding my cousin Phyllis I would be very appreciative.

Phyllis is really my first cousin once removed, the daughter of my grandfather’s sister – but she is only 4 years older than me and as a kid I just considered her a cousin! She was the kind of cousin you looked up to and idolized I can remember when I was in like 6th grade and she was in high school, in my eyes she could do no wrong and I wanted to be like her. I can remember one time she said off hand that when she grew up, she was going to sew all of her own clothes and I decided right on the spot so was I!! I didn’t of course, but I made lots of them and still do, and I know it was that remark that influenced me. I can even remember where I was and where she was when she said it. (Although decades later she said she didn’t remember it at all!)

Phyllis had a slightly older sister named Opal, and my sister and I named our one big walking doll, Opalphyllis. OK, this is the kind of relationship and feelings I had for my cousin.

Phyllis married a guy named Rex who is a lot like my Mr. Pete. In fact at the last family reunion, Rex, Mr. Pete and Opal’s Husband got in the car and just took off for a while to look at one of Rex’s woodworking projects. That’s the kind of relationship they have developed over the years where they may not see each other for a whole year and then at reunion time they just pick up where they left off.

Phyllis and Rex built their own home in the wilds of upper Michigan…no I mean THEY BUILT IT. Literally. It’s been a work in progress for decades and every year we go to see what they finished this year. The year Phyllis finally got her kitchen counters and sink was a big one! My cousin the pioneer! Country woman! Wife and mom.

Two weeks ago Phyllis was found to have cancer, everywhere. She’s only 49 but could easily have passed for her mid 30s and with a kindness and quick wit. I want to tease her that she is breaking a clause in her Cousin Contract, – the fine print that she says she can never get sick and if she does she has to get well soon. What she’s about to go through I can’t even imagine.

My mom talked to her mom yesterday. Phyllis says she can literally feel all the prayers that surround her. If you wouldn’t mind adding to that blanket of prayer folks, I really would feel that this blog has a special purpose!

Elena

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