Or seen her in years. She most likely had no idea that I existed when she died. It’s not like she was a close relative – my father was the last living relative and she was his second cousin – but it’s still a shame that she passed. She had no children, never married – none of her siblings did as far as we know – and she died alone. I hope that I don’t die in the same manner.
We’re giving her as proper of a burial as we can: no funeral as the only people who would attend would be my father and I, a simple cremation done as quickly as possible, and placing her in the family plot. We donated whatever clothing she had to the hospice and took whatever remaining personal belongings she had, the most poignant of which being the prayer card from her brother’s funeral in 1990. To think that she held onto it for seventeen years until her death is amazing and brings a tear to anyone’s eye.
Her ordeal has ended and that’s what truly matters. No longer will she suffer. No longer will she be alone. She’s with her family now, the only people she ever loved.