The phone rang at 12:35 a.m. last night. It woke me up from a deep sleep. It was P�s brother J, asking for P�s cell phone number so he could tell him the bad news. Their mom had just passed away.
I gave him the number, told him how sorry I was, and let him go to make his calls. 10 minutes later, P�s brother E was calling for the same reason. E was actually at her bedside when she died, so I was able to get a little more information. She died very peacefully in her sleep. They noticed she was breathing heavily, then she just stopped breathing and was gone.
About half an hour later, P called. He was exhausted, having just been able to fall asleep, then awakened to this sad news. His voice cracked, and I could hear that he was choking back tears. He told me he wished I was there with him. So did I. My poor darling. He was so very tired, and sad. He needed to sleep, but with this news, he wasn�t sure he could. In fact, he didn�t know what to do at all. Whether he should leave his friend�s house and go over to his parents� house, or what. I told him there wouldn�t be anything he could do there, and he would be more good to his family if he tried to sleep some more, and went over in the morning. He agreed, but I don�t know for sure that�s what he did. I haven�t heard from him yet today.
When we were packing for him to go to Dallas, I made sure he took something nice to wear too, just in case. I told him he probably wouldn�t need it. But if he did, he surely wouldn�t need the stress of running out and buying something appropriate to wear, so he should just take these slacks, this dress shirt, tie, and dress shoes. I folded them carefully, and put them inside a dress shirt box, so they wouldn�t get wrinkled, and put them at the bottom of the suitcase. I really didn�t think he would need them. But it seems now that he will.
All eight of her children are there. Half of them had to travel long distances, and with the exception of one of them, all got to see her before she died. The oldest son arrived just after she passed. But they�re all together now, for the first time in many years. I haven�t heard, but I imagine they�ll try to pull together a service for her as soon as possible. I understand that she and her husband have had arrangements in place for some time. That should make things a little easier.
I�m sad for all of them, especially P. Before he left, he told me, �I�m her favorite, you know. I always was. I wasn�t the first born, or the last born, but she loved me best, I could tell.� When he called me last night, he said, �She waited for me to get there. I know she did.� And I know she did too.
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