A friend has died

She fell down a flight of stairs and suffered fatal brain damage.  Everyone who knew her is sad and misses her.  For missing her I too am sad.  Yet isn't what we are all looking for, hoping for, just such an exit?  We know we will have to go, we all know and accept that, but we do not want to suffer, to deteriorate in hideous agony.  So we all hope for a sudden and as painless as possible exit.  So for that, for her, I am thankful.  I would rather die suddenly this afternoon than go on another 20 years but finish the last 5 or 6 years in agony.  Not unreasonable at all.  Plus with health issues over the last 1 1/2 years I am not at all happy living in more or less constant fear, terror, worry.  So now of our original friendship group S, N, Charlie, P are gone.  So quickly!  Seems like only yesterday we'd all collect on a beach and party and laugh it up.  Time goes by so quickly.  Truth is I don't know what my future holds though reports, tests, doctors have all been encouraging but I began with such horrible numbers.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll stumble down a flight of stairs and my worries will be over.  And that would be a good thing, a blessing, something to be thankful for me for.

Losses

We lost Gloria Johnson on Sept. 22, she had been ill since breaking her pelvis in a fall in June, had been in and out of hospitals, nursing homes, convalescent hospitals since then.  She was such an ardent feminist, an early fighter for AIDS patients rights.  She and Charlie often ran for Democratic Party positions together.  We always had her up for Christmas or Thanksgiving.  She led an amazingly constructive, positive, productive life.  Maureen announced Gloria's passing at the end of the Democratic Club's awards banquet on the 22nd, the whole crowd gasped.  She and I rode in the Pride Parade of 2012 honoring Charlie posthumously.

And on Oct 8 we lost Patty Plaster, only in her 50's, vivacious, healthy, happy, the whole world going for her, but she tumbled down a flight of stairs and suffered fatal brain damage.  Incredible.  I will always remember her smile, she never had a cruel or bitter word for or about anyone.  She could express negativity about things without getting cruel or bitter.  But her most outstanding feature was her wonderful personality, just a loving person.  So our friendship group has now lost Patty and Charlie.  Gloria was of course a friend, but of a different circle, the political circle.  Wow.