"Nanny"

"Nanny", my great Aunt Nancy was a very special person. I have never physically met her.

She lived here during a different time.

I was introduced to Nancy by my Mother, through her vivid memories and stories.

She was beautiful, she was kind. She loved fashion, she loved being an Aunt to her sister's eight children.

She had her own, modern little home with new and "modern" furnishings. She taught my Mom to skate and danced like an angel.

She helped my Mother memorize and recite "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus when she was in the 6th grade.

She encouraged and inspired my Mom to follow her heart in everything that came at her. She gave my Mom a love that Mom, never forgot she received. A comfort that she missed when she left this world too early.

Though I never met her, I know her.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus