The Outside of the Onion

Early this morning my great aunt Madeline passed away. She was in her mid nineties and had lived in a nursing home for the last couple years. I was not close to her and never visited her, but my mother visited every Sunday and would sometime take my youngest one with her. She was the last of my grandmother's siblings. She was the last living relative of that generation on either side of my family.

As the eldest member of my generation in my family, I think about how life is like the layers of an onion. The inside of the onion is tender, juicy, small and protected by so many outer layers. I am so much closer to that outer, protective layer. Then there are the final layers of the onion that are thin and paper-like and could easily be flaked away.