Matt's Journal

My Aunt Jackie died last week. She was almost 95; she never married. She was the 6th child of a family of eight (my father was the baby).

She entered an order of nuns for a time as a novice but it wasn’t for her.

She lived with my grandmother in her large house on Esplanade Ave until she died, then she moved to an apartment down the street, on Bayou St. John, where she lived for many years. I remember it — it was small and packed with furniture and possessions from a lifetime.

She preferred to be called “Jacqueline”. She would make breakfasts of fried eggs in brown butter, with cafe au lait, the real Creole kind with chicory coffee and milk boiled just until the skin formed before pouring it into the cup. She spoke fluent French, like everybody of Dad’s generation, and even tried, once, to teach me a phrase — back when I was 13 and didn’t know that I cared. “L’homme propose, Dieu dispose”. Man plans, God laughs. She was patient and encouraging, and I remembered.

She’d “visit” various Catholic churches. I went along with her one time, to what she called “the Jesuits”, the Jesuit church downtown, the one with the onion domes. She’d make the sign of the cross when she passed a church. She asked questions with a liveliness and curiosity and openness that captivated me.

When Katrina washed everyone out of the city she ended up with my parents in Texas for a few months. It wasn’t long before they got on each others’ nerves. “She gets up at noon and then takes an hour-long hot shower!”. This from my mom who’s an early riser. Eventually they cleaned up her place on Esplanade and she went back.

She finally ended up in a nursing home across the river. I made a couple of trips over to see her when visiting and always was happy that I had — she welcomed me with grace and affection. She always had magic about her.

She was single but had a lot of influence in our family – all of us. Now that she is dead there’s only uncle Jean left of my father’s family.

The City that Care Forgot has seen many catastrophes. The current crisis is just another one. It’s the last one that “ma tante Jacqueline” had to experience. I couldn’t see her one last time, and I hope and pray that she is in the arms of God and that the magic persists.