![\"Planet](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/astrologynews\/images\/april4-12-2014.jpg?resize=325%2C268&ssl=1\" "\\"Planet")
<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\nAs an immigrant from the Old World, Aunt Josie is my most direct root into my mother country and gives me some claim to being a first-generation American. <\/p>\n
Aunt Josie was my godmother in the true sense of the word, taking the place of my parents, particularly my mother, in various times of extended absence. She also helped raise my father, and was his mother’s sister, so she knew something of the family influences that were at work in my life. <\/p>\n
Josie was the most interesting blend of forgiving and shrewd; faithful and worldly; loving and insisting on integrity, particularly from herself. A deeply spiritual woman, the Roman Catholic Church was her spiritual home, particularly in her relationship to Msgr. Jolly, who ran the local parish. <\/p>\n
Before being married, Josie worked scrubbing floors and then was in the typing pool of Westinghouse. She never finished high school but was highly literate and an expert secretary. Like many of her generation, she scrimped and saved and could stretch a dollar. She was a clever stock trader and made something of her modest, handmade fortune. My father said that she insisted on having a separate stock account from her husband, my uncle Howard Sharp, because their theories of trading were so different. <\/p>\n
\nAunt Josie was something of a mystic, and we had many fun experiences of psychic contact, such as she standing by the phone waiting for it to ring the moment that I called. We talked for hours and in the process I learned much about life, and the past, from her and told her about my perspective from the viewpoint of someone 60 years younger. <\/p>\n
That 60-year age difference made us both green dragons (element wood) in the Chinese system of astrology. We were definitely a couple of odd birds of a feather, with more in common than really seemed possible or practical for our age difference. There were a few points on which we disagreed, such as cast iron frying pans (which she didn’t think were sanitary) and chop sticks (which struck her as a bit uncivilized). We definitely agreed on chicken and rice.<\/p>\n
Aunt Josie believed in me, in my talent and in my leadership skills. When I was working my way through the ranks of the campus publishing community at SUNY Buffalo, she would regularly send me care packages, complete with her amazing oatmeal and\/or oatmeal peanut butter cookies and various treats. These were always a big hit with my staff. <\/p>\n
After I graduated, I told her that I was not really into sweets and shared all the stuff she sent with my crew, a bunch of college students who devoured it voraciously. She said she understood the politics involved. <\/p>\n
![\"Planet](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/astrologynews\/images\/april4-10-2014.jpg?resize=425%2C519&ssl=1\" "\\"Planet")
<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n![\"dream](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/548+web-grandmother-land-dream.jpg?resize=548%2C668&ssl=1\")
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