Remembering Blanche

Well, life goes on. On Monday I received a call from one of my former tenants to tell me that Blanche had passed away that afternoon. Blanche was one of my favorites in the building. She and Norm had been married for 61 years and were as much in love this week as when they married so many decaded ago. I remember seeing them snuggled together on the sofa watching TV until Blanche's back got to the point that such posture was no longer possible. My favorite memory of Blanche was seeing her standing in her living room window with a coffee mug, inviting me in after shoveling snow in the early morning hours. Blanche and Norm were part surrogate parents, part counselor, part friend, and surely a dumping ground for all of my emotional junk over the past two years. Norm, I am certain, is devastated by Blanche's rather unexpected passing, and I worry about him. I know that Blanche is at peace, free from pain and stress, and is waiting for Norm to come along. Her passing was a real blow to me -- when I moved two weeks ago, she was in apparent decent health. All at once, it seems, they discovered a blockage in the colon which turned out to be cancer. They did surgery, but then Blanche had a series of strokes, leaving her helpless. A day or two later, she received the ultimate healing. The folks in the apartment building will be shaken and will grieve her passing. Her family likewise are at a loss. I will remember Blanche fondly for a very long time and will miss the hours we spent chatting over her freely offered coffee.