It is the age of social media with Facebook on top of the heap. Through this medium which I obsessively check multiple times a day did I receive notice from another friend’s mom that Mrs. Scales had passed away on Monday. It took me several moments for it to sink in and then I went to the living room. I looked up, up into the perfect blue of the sky with the clouds puffed here and there. The grass is vibrant green across the way now and the buds have been on the trees for a few days. I then sank down onto the couch arm and cried. I can’t express quite what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking, but its akin to a sheer sense of terror that goes into your stomach and eats out your heart.
Next I called my mom and we talked about it.
Then tonight I left this message on the funeral home’s guest book:
It’s strange, but the clearest memory I can form all these years later is coming over to play with Jessica in 7th or 8th grade and Mrs. Scales asks us to help her with something. We ended up sitting at the table folding papers for her church and sticking them into envelopes. Also Jessica’s 7th grade birthday party so everyone was running in and out of the house and another time we were trick or treating in the 8th grade. I came over several times that year though I hadn’t thought about it in quite some time.
My heart goes out to you. Losing someone is never fun *hugs*