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The older generation has mostly died off, on both sides of my family, although it was once an enormous Italian clan. The only people left are, on my mother's side, my mom and her sister, and a sister-in-law (out of four married siblings), and, on my dad's side, a few sisters-in-law we don't speak to, and a great aunt who is not, in fact, 140 years old. ;) (Due to the weird late birth of my Great Uncle Joe, who's passed, my Great Aunt Lucille, his wife, is the same age as her nephews and niece--Mickey.)
So yes, pretty soon it will be all up to me, my brother, and my cousins. It's strange. And like your family, we have all scattered too--left to our own devices, we wouldn't have the huge family gatherings that the older generations used to take as a matter of course. I find that very sad.
Anyway, regarding "passing of the torch", this was the dream that I had in the early morning, several hours after my Aunt Mickey passed (although I didn't know it). Sorry for the length:
I was in the woods, visiting what appeared to be a Native American tribe--although not everyone in it was Native American; there were a lot of caucasians and, I believe, people of other races. But it was definitely a close-knit tribe, and I was envious of it--I wished I belonged to it as naturally as they all did. So I was a bit shy around everyone.
There was a pretty steep hill within the woods (not dense woods--everything was covered with widely spaced young trees). At the top of the hill was a small building that looked like a one-room schoolhouse or lodge. The tribe was going to have a ceremony there later in the day. There was a white wood staircase that went straight up the steepest part of the hill to the front door of the building, although that wasn't the only way to get to it. Somehow I "broke" the staircase. I was mortified, but nobody seemed to mind, since there were other ways of getting to the lodge. They did tease me about it, though.
Some of us were at the base of the hill, and I was asked to help a young woman with her costume for the ceremony. She was a really beautiful Native American woman, with dark skin and glossy black hair pulled into a tight knot low on the back of her head. She was also beautiful "on the inside"--so kind and generous, and just exuding pure love.
As I helped her with her outfit, she and I got along famously and became close friends. I helped her put on a white dress (definitely not N.A. style of any sort)--it had a complicated skirt and a stiff bodice with tiny silver seed beads on it and spaghetti straps. In any other context it would have made a nice wedding dress, but it wasn't. People started gathering for the ceremony, and she had to go with the other people who would be part of a procession, to prepare. At the last minute I found a string of white tubes that looked like long bone beads, so I hooked it around her throat as a sort of choker/necklace, but I wasn't sure it was going to "work".
I went into the lodge with the rest of the tribe, and while everyone was really welcoming and pleasant, I was still envious of their family vibe and wished I was a part of it. Still bashful, I tucked myself into a corner, up against the back wall, at the far end of a group of people lining the side wall. If I stepped all the way back, nobody in the main part of the lodge could see me, which appeared to be what I wanted.
The procession of "important people" entered, with the young woman in the middle of the line. She was now the size of a small child, but that was expected; apparently as part of the ceremony, she would transform into an adult. She seemed concerned about something--she was whispering to the other people in the procession--and I noticed she wasn't wearing the necklace, so I was afraid that she was unhappy with her clothes. I tucked myself back into the corner to "disappear", just in case.
Then she came straight to me (she was now an adult), on her knees, and took my hands. She said something like "How are you doing?" and smiled at me, and led me into the center of the lodge. We sat facing one another and she sang me a song (don't remember it now). We were so happy, just grinning at each other. Then I noticed that I was wearing the white dress, and she was in a dark-green shirt and brown skirt. (Okay, now a weird bit, so bear with me--when she crossed her legs and lifted her knee, I noticed she had an udder. Yeah, I know, weird. As soon as I glimpsed it, I woke up abruptly.)
I'm getting the sense that I was visiting my soul family but, still being an incarnated human, I didn't feel like I belonged--too much "of this world" in my brain. I think the woman was my aunt, even though she didn't look ANYthing like her (not even when she was young)--I think that was her "true form". And I think the ceremony was her return to the soul family in the Otherworld--white dress, entering as a child ("newbie") but "growing" quickly as she remembers her true nature. And it felt like she "passed the torch" to me with the song and swapping of the dress. (As for the udder, I figure it's just a symbol of the mother goddess nature.)
Any other thought, do let me know! :hi:
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