A New Week

A week has gone by since I received the news that my sister is gone. It’s so final. It’s like someone slammed the door shut. So I’ve been processing the news in my mind, in my heart, in my body. It still hurts. I can’t believe it…yet it’s true.

This is a picture of Lorraine and her little dog. He was her companion, she loved him and he loved her. This is the picture that is in her obituary.

One thing Lorraine and I talked about several times, during our late night phone conversations, is how we wanted to die. Some time in our old, old age, we both agreed, we just wanted to go to bed one night and not wake up in the morning. We didn’t want to get sick and suffer or be a burden on our children. So I am thankful that she didn’t get sick, suffer and linger. She died. It’s just too soon.

I’m very restless. I want to go to Portland now. I can hardly stand it to be here when I want to be there. I want to be needed. But I’ll wait until Saturday, then I’ll fly out. Meantime, I’ll clean house, wash clothes, fix food for Jerry for while I’m gone, work on cleaning out  flower beds, etc. The week can’t go fast enough.

Lorraine was an outstanding person. She was an A student, valedictorian of her class. After college she obtained her masters degree. She was an outstanding teacher in Portland Schools teaching the lower grades. She had the firm belief that every child has one or more gifts. I firmly agreed with her. She has four beautiful daughters.

As a person, Lorraine was a widow, mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, aunt, cousin, friend, neighbor. She was also a teacher, author, poet, singer and oh, so much more.