Just read The Cat Lady of Highland Park, a memoir by Robert Blaine. The memoir focuses mainly on Blaine going as a young teen from Lincoln, NE, to Chicago, IL, to live with his complex aunt in the north Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He lived with his aunt and uncle for 10 years. Blaine tells some crazy tales of his aunt’s life that center on her many cats and her egocentric life, where with her very demanding personality she tried to control people for her own purposes, including Blaine.
In the midst of living with his aunt Blaine — at about age 17 — became a Jesus follower. He attempted to be a good witness to his aunt, who is never very sure about the faith. It was not easy.
Blaine finally did make his peace with his aunt as best he could. His aunt died at a fairly old age and Blaine reflects on her death in the book… “Good-bys, even final ones, do not guarantee restoration. Until Christ returns and resets our hearts, our minds, and the world in which we live, we each remain a busy construction project, moving forward but off-schedule and annoyed by any complications to our plans. We need more grace than we have sense enough to request. I did then. I still do.”
donfollis.com 