The month of July is crazy busy. It's summer, the kids are out, my little sister has a birthday and my older sister is calling me to tell me how ungodly hot and humid it is. She's the kind of woman to call you back to back and text you to say, "Pick up or I'll harass you." I'd always have to remind her, "Sieara, I'm in a meeting I'll call you back." Usually, I would call if it's late in the evening after everyone at work has left for the day and I have nothing else to do but wait for my significant other to get off work. This was a regular occurrence in my summer over the past four years.
Evening during Covid I was able to find a moment to squeeze in, but it was never enough for my needy older sister. You see she was a bit different. Life had robbed her of two great loves. Her lover, and her child. Pair that with the death of her innocence and what did you have? A woman in need of serious medical intervention in a facility designed for people like her. Not an asylum, no. But a place to help her find peace.
But that peace never came.
On July 22, 2023, I received a frantic call from my mom about my sister in the hospital. I'll admit, this wasn't the first call and it was not a shock or surprise to me. Any number of the calls I had received years before could have been " the one". Because of this I simply got ready and went to my dentist appointment, which was less than 5 minutes from the hospital.
While waiting for my dentist to repair a simple filling, he told me I needed two more repairs at that time and so my dentist went ahead and took care of those. I was texting my family at the same time and advised my dentist I needed to move along. This morning his office seemed slower than usual. It nearly annoyed me. Why was everything so slow?
"ANY NUMBER OF THE CALLS I HAD RECEIVED YEARS BEFORE COULD HAVE BEEN " THE ONE".
I left the dentist still numb with my Significant Other who also needed to go to a dentist appointment (we don't have the same doctors). We arrived at the hospital, a small hospital just outside of Orlando but still a part of the same network here in central Florida. The nurse advised me that I needed to go upstairs to the ICU, room 9. Once I arrived, I saw my mother and her boyfriend, my sister's fiance. Our younger sister had not arrived. There were as many as 8 or 9 different machines running to keep her alive.
I had never seen anyone in the ICU and neither had my better half. We both were taken aback and I remember the tears swelling up in his face when he saw her lying there. I quickly told him to leave. Not because I didn't want him there, but because I knew just how taxing this could be on someone. I said, "Go to your appointment. Don't stay. That's all I ask. " He understood that it wasn't me saying that I wasn't in need of support, but that I needed to support my family at this time. I needed to shelf myself in order to support my mother, my sister, and my sister's children.
Once our younger sister arrived, it wasn't long after that they called her time of death. It was as if she was waiting for us to arrive. I made a decision to NOT let the kids come to see her in this state. She saw unrecognizable with all of the swellings. Most everyone had left except her fiance. I sat with her body alone for a while and just spoke to her.
It's summertime again. The kids are with my younger sibling as I battle my own health issues and for most life goes on. But everything is different. Life is slower, less inclined to move at all. Phones ring less unlike with coworkers, just less in general. There's less to laugh about these days. But I can't help but feel proud of the work my kid sister has put in. Today is her birthday and she is 25. She has her struggles as a mother and a wife, but she's doing a better job than most in her situation.
One day, this will all seem like so long ago...
-Until next time Space Cowboy.
