Taking some time

Late in the afternoon I received a call from the Valencia County Medical Investigator. He left a message for me to call him. Having watched enough Quincy I realized what a Medical Investigator was. Even though he asked for me by name I hoped it was some sort of mistake and if I just ignored the message he would realize his mistake and not call back. He didn't leave another message but he did continue to call. All except one of my immediate family members in the state live in Valencia County. Finally I realized he was not going away and I would have to call him back and I did.

My sister Becky passed away as she entered her house after returning from work. The neighbor noticed her car door had been left wide open and some other strange things and called the police. The autopsy is being done tomorrow morning. I will guess it was a heart attack. My sister smoked like a train and drank beer in the evening as though it were water. She was in her mid 50s and in all the years I have known her I have never known her to eat a salad or vegetable. So we will just say she did not follow any health advise, nor did she hardly ever visit a doctor. Still, even given all of what I have just told you, I can't describe the shock it was to me.

I have now lost both of my sisters in under a year and a half. They were born only 13 months apart and died 17 months apart, in the same order of their birth. I came much later as a mistake, but certainly don't plan on continuing this dying in the mid 50s trend.

Anyhow that aside, I am now the oldest living member of my immediate family. I am left with taking care of everything that goes along with someone passing away, arrangements and whatever legal matters need to be taken care of concerning her estate. There won't be any family feuds over her money or things, my sister was a special ed teacher, I doubt she has a lot to fight over and my family isn't that way anyhow. Still I don't know how much time that all will take. I don't even know if she had a will, although knowing my sister I doubt it. I have no idea where her son (my nephew) is. To put it nicely he is a vagabond. He normally calls me every few days, although I normally miss his calls and since he is truly her next of kin everything will probably go to him.

None of that means that I won't be posting or updating here at least somewhat. I know when my other sister passed away I found it easier if I kept busy, even if it was just updating my blogs. At this point I am just not sure how busy everything else will keep me.

I realize I sound rather matter of factly, but I am truly in shock. My other sister was dying and suffering for a year and it was as expected as death can ever really be. I have a feeling, even though I am in shock, that this will be much harder. I had no time to prepare. There is not the relief that she is no longer suffering.