My Other Mother

About 12 years ago I met an amazing woman. She had been married earlier in her life but they had parted ways and never had any children. She had no family but claimed dozens of people as her own kids including me. She introduced me as her son so many times that there are several people that think we are related.

A little over a year ago she was diagnosed with the later stages of Lupus. This woman that was so full of life suddenly wasnt. She had good days and bad days. If she had bad days, she would sometimes have to go to the hospital and when she got home she would turn her phone off, not wanting to talk to anybody until she felt better.

Three weeks ago we went to lunch. She seemed to be doing very well and had been doing well for quite sometime. I thought that the worst had passed.

Yesterday, a coworker called me. Nobody had talked to her in about 10 days to 2 weeks. I went over to her condo. I knocked and knocked on the door to no avail. I could see through the peephole that the lights were out and I could see her cat sitting on the back of a chair. The cat looked well fed. I checked the parking lot and found her car in her assigned parking space. I came back up and couldnt find any neighbors at home nor could I find a maintenace man. I called her coworker and told her what I had found. The coworker had called the hospital that she went to and they said she wasnt there.

This morning, her office called the police and asked them to perform a welfare check. They forced their way into her condo and found her dead and lying in her bed.

Last year my grandmother died. I can tell you that losing my other mother has been harder on me than losing my grandmother. I'm gonna miss my mama D.