Blessing #79 - Aunt Peggy's Blanket

With Brandon's birthday week in full swing, I've been remembering all the events around his birth. One special memory involves this blanket.


It all started a few weeks before Brandon was born. My Aunt Peggy's birthday was approaching, and she called to inform me that it would be just fine if the baby was born on her birthday.

We had a great talk that day, and I promised Aunt Peggy I would talk to the baby and see if he would be born on her birthday. Well, much to her disappointment, Brandon did not cooperate.

My dad's mom passed away before I was born, but God blessed me with five loving aunts and one of the sweetest uncles ever. All of my aunts were not your typical aunts, and Aunt Peggy was one of the most...untypical. Aunt Peggy had a child like enthusiasm for life. She was fun, and she absolutely loved me for no other reason than I was her baby brother's baby daughter. At my wedding shower, she couldn't even introduce herself. She stood up and said, "My name is Peggy and I'm Stephanie's Aunn...(that's where she started crying)." She then went on in a choked up voice to explain how much she loved me. In fact, I believe if I listen to my wedding video I can pick out Aunt Peggy sniffing back tears above everyone else. Aunt Peggy loved me to the fullest, but everything she did was to the fullest.

Just two days after her birthday, my Aunt Peggy passed away suddenly. Our entire family was shell-shocked and heart broken. The funeral was in North Carolina, and I was too pregnant to travel.

One week after my Aunt Peggy's funeral, Brandon was born. When my dad visited me in the hospital he gave me this blanket and told me the amazing story it had. After my aunt's funeral, a woman approached my dad and said that my Aunt Peggy had ordered this blanket for Brandon from her. The lady had worked to finish it and gave it to my dad. Around the edge of the blanket Aunt Peggy had ordered the words "Lil Bil." Brandon's initials are BIL and my dad's name is Bill. We didn't plan that, but once we discovered it we thought it was cool.


The first night we had Brandon at home, no receiving blanket could fit the 9lb. 9oz. baby so we couldn't swaddle him. In desperation, we tried my Aunt Peggy's blanket, and it worked perfectly. Late that night, holding my perfectly swaddled baby, I cried missing my Aunt Peggy.

Five years later, I still have his blanket, and I can't help but think of my amazing Aunt when I see it, and how I can't wait to see her someday and finally thank her for it.