Great-Aunt Marie Thurston

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told of how she spent so much of her time adding up long columns of numbers three or four times, often getting three or four different answers. Marie said that doing her schoolwork, especially for these types of classes, was very hard for her because she is dyslexic and she didn’t own a calculator which made it even more difficult. In spite of the difficulties with homework and the other hardships she encountered along the way Marie succeeded and had a little hope for her future.

It was quite interesting discussing Marie talks about the men in her life and two of her best friends. One was the father of her children and the other she called an accident of fate. Marie met her first husband she at church, she he was a kind man and they had many good years together raising their children. Eventually differing religious beliefs interfered in their relationship and the decided to get a divorce. Marie said not much time passed before tragedy struck again, for in the summer of 1970, her oldest daughter was hit by a car and the doctors said she would never recover. Because she had already overcome so many obstacles and suffered through tragic occurrences, Marie seemed to have found an unfailing hope that things would turn out differently. She could not accept the diagnosis and studied long and hard to find a way to help her daughter live as normal of a life as possible. Through this process Marie said she had found her true calling in massage therapy. She was able to give her daughter enough time to graduate high school and attend college before she passed away. Marie was emotional when she shared these memories with me but continues on to say that before Diana’s passing she had taught her family many things, but what stood out in Marie’s mind the most was how encouraging Diana had been and pushed her Mom to teach others in massage therapy in the hopes that they may give others the same blessing Diana had been given. After her daughter’s passing Marie eventually settled back in Missouri near where she grew up, and started a massage therapy school. She said in her very first class, she meet the man who she called an accident of fate and would eventually spend the rest of her life with. She took a moment during our discussion to reflect on the meaningful relationships she had been given and the love that she shared with her daughter and each of her husband’s.

Marie has had a long, full life and experienced so many different things. While I feel that there are few people who have had experiences growing up that were similar to mine, I still feel like my Great Aunt could relate some experiences if she knew about them. I feel that we are similar in the way we both had to overcome obstacles that seemed insurmountable, grieved through tragedies, and found a way to succeed even during the most difficult of times. We are the sum of our experiences, shaped by the past to prepare us for the future and the people who played even the smallest part in our lives may be the ones with the biggest impact. I am thankful to have had the experience of having this discussion with my Great Aunt Marie, I feel it was beneficial for me to listen to her story, and to learn of her motivation and perseverance, but especially her drive to learn and succeed and dedication to helping others. .

Bibligraphy

Thurston, M. (2017, April 22). Personal interview.