Saying Goodbye

Tuesday was not one of my favorite days, for a variety of reasons. In fact, it's been a pretty miserable week with plenty of change (both good and bad). But Tuesday was especially bad. It's not entirely due to the election. Some of the candidates I voted for -- in each party -- made it into office, while others did not. That's the political process and I'll live with the outcome. No, Tuesday was just plain awful for several reasons.

First, I had a sick kid--one who is rarely sick. He's still not quite up to snuff today, but Tuesday was bad. To accommodate my need to vote and to care for my sick one, I decided to work at home (bonus, or so I thought). My mom called around 10 to ask if she could drop my darling Logan off for the remainder of the day (another bonus)--she had to accompany my niece up to Ann Arbor so that she could say goodbye to her mother. And that is was makes it a miserable day. See, her mother (my former sister-in-law) was not going on a trip or moving. Instead, she was at the hospital at U of M, and had lapsed in to a coma, was on a respirator, and was not expected to make it through the day.

Sherry and my brother were married through most of the 1980's. Together, they had 2 daughters. They split when the girls were young, and the girls stayed with my brother. I don't like some of the decisions that Sherry made over her life's journey, but she and I used to do quite a bit together through the early years, and we maintained a cordial relationship over the years although we didn't see each other very often. In fact, the last time I saw her was at my grandmother's funeral in April '07. I have, however, seen her parents and one of her brothers fairly often over time, and will always consider them to be family since we have shared children (my nieces and great nieces).

Sherry has had health issues for pretty much the entire 26 or 27 years that I've known her, but has been in very bad shape over the last few. I know that she's at peace and no longer suffering, but I also know that it will be hard to say goodbye on Monday. I like knowing that she got to spend her last few weeks with her darling granddaughters. She lost her battle early Tuesday afternoon. She was 45.

So, my old friend, sleep well and watch over us.