Sis died on Monday, July 29th, 1985. I spoke to her on the previous Saturday. I saw her for the last time on Wednesday of that week. The last thing she said to me during that visit was, "I love you".

I had given her a cane. It seemed to help. I had gone to the store for her, spending her food stamps and sometimes my cash. Shrimp salad, crabcakes, these were some of her favorites she could seldom afford in her later years. But now her days were numbered and I was doing the shopping, trying to find things easily prepared. Things that she especially liked. She had said to me, "I want to live! I want to eat crabcakes and drink beer!" 

Her doctor told me she had six months, at most. I didn't want to believe it. She asked me if I knew something she didn't, what did the doctor tell me? I didn't tell her she had six months. She died in three.

Shortly after my marriage ended, back in 1980, I stopped by to visit Sis. I told her about the house I had moved into in the 2700 block of North Calvert Street. She had accumulated some odds and ends for my new living situation- glasses, silverware, pillows, etcetera. She wanted to know when she could see my place. Why not now? I had some reservations. She was drunk. I piled her, glasses and all, into my pickup truck. For some reason, frustrated, I yelled at her. I'd never done that before. Later, as we sat in my new home, an ash from her cigarette burned a hole in the naugahide cover of my dining room card table. I did not mention it. 

Months later Sis walked up to visit me from her apartment in the 1900 block of Saint Paul Street. She had with her a heavy shopping bag filled with canned goods and fresh food that I liked. She lived on food stamps and thought of me! 

This is a loss I shall always know. I have a lifetime of memories of her goodness and generosity. She loved me all my life. 

DJM 

*Sis was a lifelong family friend. She was an Auntie to me and my brother.