Friday, January 30, 2004

ashes to ashes

dying alone has got to be one of the saddest occurrences, in my opinion. some of you may remember my blog from 2 years ago, when c's friend gene died of a heart attack in his apartment, but no one knew about it until c and i went looking for him and ended up finding him at the morgue of a neighborhood hospital.

last week one of affinity's regulars died of liver damage related causes and was found by either a friend or her girlfriend (i'm a little sketchy on the details) dead at home, alone. it was a surprise to everyone that knew her because she had just been seen a few days earlier at one of affinity's gatherings. i personally adored her. she was an older woman but full of vibrancy and always smiling. it's not like we were close or anything, but she was just one of those people who you were always happy to see because she was so cute and friendly and welcoming. apparently she would always ask c, "how's that pretty girl of yours doing?".

i was so sad when i heard that she died. then to top it off, the fact that she died alone was just heart-wrenching. the day after her death a few of her friends and her girlfriend went over to her apartment to check for any phone numbers for relatives but they couldn't find anything. nor could they find any insurance papers. it was just disheartening to think that she was just lying in the morgue while people tried to solve the puzzles of her life, where she was from, where her family was, how she died, how she would be buried, who would bear the costs, etc, etc.

well, two weeks later, they found a relative who came in to sign the papers necessary to allow her to be cremated, which is apparently what she wanted. as usual, affinity is arranging to get some funds together to help bear the costs associated with all of this. there's a memorial for her tomorrow, and i plan on attending. but it'll be really sad. bernice was a sweetheart. although i didn't know her that well i can't help but feel like it was just too soon.

but that's life i guess.