R.I.P. Sis Delores

My mother called me last night. I was on another call with somebody I hadnt talked to in a long time, so I didnt bother to click over, thinking she'd just call one of the kids' phones, since she was probably just trying to see if they had gotten her package yet.

She called again tonight, on my daughter's phone, and spoke to both of the kids, then my son brought the phone to me. I took a writing break and got on the phone, and she said, "I was trying to stay upbeat." I was confused. Then she told me that one of her closest friends died last night, in some freak way. I mean, she wasnt sick or anything, she apparently had knee surgery and somehow got a blood clot that traveled up to her lungs or something like that. It was why she had called last night too.

There was no way I could have known, but I felt horrible.

I didnt know what to say.

I mean, my mother was calling me for solace, of all the people in the world. And she was really, really hurt. This lady and her husband were like the last of a dying breed - people my mother had been close to for at least most of MY life. She was a friend and also like a mother to her, so I couldnt help but feel her pain. Hearing her cry like that.... man. I was so thrown, it was an hour before I could start writing again.

I did pull it together enough to talk her through. She was still all broken up, but she at least seemed to have something to hold on to for better days.

Havent been tested like that in.... damn, EVER?

But for real, Sister Delores (as I've always known her) was a real good woman. I liked her a lot. She is one of those few people that you have no doubt is gonna go to heaven. I hope she rests in peace, and I pray her husband finds strength in this time. I have never seen a couple like them before. They were the Ozzie and Ruby Dee I had in my life, except funnier. I cant even imagine him without her. God bless his and every other broken heart up there tonight. R.I.P. Sister Delores.