Betty is dead.

I received a call from a friend, who told me that he had just heard that Betty is dead. Betty was a mutual friend who died last month. She had a death un-noticed for several days, having had a heart attack that dropped her like a stone in her own living room. When she was not heard from for a few days , family went to check and sure enough she was gone. What can I say, when a contemporary dies suddenly and unexpectedly you are shocked, saddened and then you wonder.
Betty was the eternal optimist, even though she had to deal with more curves than Jorge Posada ever had to. Her husband a man of inherited wealth lost it all to gambling, ultimately having his legs broken , literally by the loan sharks. She managed to escape the marriage with 5 children and two fur coats and not much more. Thrown out into the world with literally nothing, she was able to get by with working and skimping. Her family helped her for which she was ever grateful. But her major worth was in her sunny personality , she would call and chat you up and lift you from your doldrums and leave you with a smile on your face. That was her gift and her salvation.

To say that her death was unexpected is not really correct. She battled weight and diabetes , she had gastric bypass and for sometime dropped in weight, but over the last two years she had gained it all back. It got to the point that our mutual friend was cautioning her all the time about soda, and diet and exercise. None of which impacted her. She got one of those diabetic infections that poison the system last year and although she made it through, I suspected it had taken its toll, for they infect the heart and the head.

She still called occassionally, always lifting my spirits , talking about the most mundane things, her dog, her condo, her flowers outside. Now her calls will be forever silenced.

My mother who is 92 once spoke of the loneliness that comes from being the last survivor of a social group. This is , I guess, how it begins. It is just a little more lonely knowing that she is gone. Rest in Peace , Betty.