I Lost a Friend

I have wanted to do something to honor the passing of my neighbor and friend Miss Margaret.  I hope you will take the time after reading this to say a prayer, have a nice hot cup off coffee with cream and sugar (the way she liked it) or do something tiny to mark her passing as she didn't like to be fussed over.

I do not have many friends.  I have lots of aquaintances and almost friends but not many people who carve their own special place in my heart.  Miss Margaret was one of those special people.

Who was Miss Margaret?  She was a contradiction.  She was a porch sitter like me.  She was quick to fight and even quicker to extend a helping hand.  She had a firm sense of right and wrong and never hesitated to point out which was which.  She liked to swear and indulge in off color humor.  She, as my mother would say, called a spade a spade.




Miss Margaret (right)



Miss Margaret lived all of her life poor.  She worked as a waitress and in a nursing home.  She was abused by her first husband and only found the strength to leave him after he knocked out all of her front teeth.  She said she was so much happier in her rat infested apartment down on 6th street even if her kids had to sleep on the floor.

Miss Margaret had a big heart, but she could hold a well deserved grudge.  She learned all her life's lessons the hard way.  She remarried a man society rejected but I refused to shun him.  He'd paid his debt to society and he was good to me.  Miss Margaret never forgot that and loved me for it.  He died 3 years ago and she never stopped missing him and cried at the mention of his name.

Miss Margaret helped people expecting nothing in return.  The gift of giving pleased her more than any material possession.

One afternoon her daughter came over to tell me she needed to take her mother to the hospital but she wouldn't go.  I went over and after awhile I asked her why she didn't want to go and she cried and said "I'm afraid if I go I won't come home."  I laughed and said "Miss Margaret, they're just gonna fix you up a bit.  I promise you will come home.  If I have to come over there and get you and throw you in the back of my truck you are coming home."  She perked up and we got her in the car.

But she didn't stay.  She came home and the next time she went she stayed.  I hoped she would make it home again.  She did.  They had no treatment for the advanced cancer and they sent her home to die.  I waited in my swing and when the EMT's wheeled her up the sidewalk  I yelled "WELCOME HOME MISS MARGARET!  I LOVE YOU!"  She waved and yelled "I love you too!"

The next morning she fell asleep and never woke up.

Rest in peace Miss Margaret. I hope I can keep my heart open for love after a lifetime of hurts like you.

Please leave a message and let me know how you honored my friend.  She would be amazed by it as she never used a computer, had no cable tv, and would have no clue what a blogger is.