A bad day again

My best friend's mom passed away yesterday. I don't think it was a big surprise to anyone because she'd been in the hospital for a few weeks, and it certainly wasn't looking good. I was more shocked when I got the initial call from him a couple weeks ago. He called me from the Las Vegas airport, and I was hoping that meant he was calling me to come get him and take him somewhere he needed to be. Unfortunately, where he needed to be was San Francisco. He told me that his mother was in the hospital and that he'd been told he needed to drop everything and get out there as soon as possible if he wanted to be able to talk to her again before she died. He was on a layover, but there wasn't enough time for me to see him, so I just talked to him a little about the situation. Luckily, she held on for a while, and he was able to spend some time with her before she passed. Hopefully that will help him in coping with her loss.

I haven't seen her in many years, but she always asked my friend how I was doing, and wanted to talk to me if I happened to be at his house when she called. She always treated me as if I were part of her family. She was a good woman. Since I haven't seen her in quite some time, most of my memories of her come from when I was in high school, and spent time in her house almost every day.

Here are a few things I remember:

- She bought my friend a motorcycle, and didn't get too upset when we got caught riding it without a license (that was the first time a law enforcement officer ever had to talk to my parents about me, and oddly enough, they didn't get too upset either).
- She fed us with innumberable burritos and personal pizzas from her freezer, never complaining about the additional cost of feeding 2-3 extra teenage boys.
- She never got too mad at us when we'd scare her "jungle cat" and make it run into the bedroom.
- She trusted her son to go with me whenever and wherever we chose.
- She allowed us to commandeer the television for hours on end while we watched The Kids In The Hall, Mystery Science Theater 3000, or played Tecmo Super Bowl.
- She was one of the few people who didn't act disappointed when I got my girlfriend pregnant. Instead, she just made fun of me.
- She helped me get a custodial job during the first winter I was married that helped pay for gas and groceries while no other jobs were available.


I could go on, but I won't. Just know that she was a remarkable woman and the world is worse off without her. Just because her death was expected after that initial phone call doesn't mean that I'm not crying as I write this.

Rest in peace, Lynne. You will be missed.