Dating : The Message

One morning, exactly a week after the dream, I am chirpy, feeling good about my skin popping and the effectiveness of my newly curated skincare routine. I am thinking of the fabulous day I am going to have as I make my coffee. I check my messages and see I have a missed call from my brother who lives in a different continent from me, and also a message from him saying; “Call your mama…Grandma just died”.

First word I get out is “fuck”. So I call him back immediately, ignoring my coffee, asking how he knows, he repeats “Call mum”.

I call mum, she picks up screaming incoherently and I am sobbing because I think the news is true.

I am in denial the whole time, having so many flashbacks, hoping that there was an error somewhere, maybe Grandma just had a deep sleep and you know, someone in her house mistook it for death. So I wait a few hours till I am sure mum is at Grandma’s house. I call back on video asking, “is it true? Has a doctor come in to certify her?” Mum responded with tears in her eyes and her voice shaking; yes, it is true, she is no more breathing, Grandma is gone.

I felt defeated. Somewhere deep down I had hoped that the news was false. It wasn’t. As I remember the dream from last week, not too sure what to make of it or any other dreams for that matter, but also thinking at that moment that it was a message and this was what it meant.

I will miss her so much. She was my friend, my very good friend. She cared for me out of love. I look back and I am just grateful that she enjoyed my blessings; my time, my presence, my phone calls, my gifts. So many holidays at her house, so many day visits, so many parties together, so many talks into the night.

Ever so prayerful, as I recall, her last words to me were prayers. A prayer of reassurance and reaffirmation.