My good friend and long time neighbor would have been 83 today. She celebrated her last birthday in 2016. She turned 78 that year. It was not a good year for her. She’d lost her sight two years before and her legs hurt a lot. She spent many days in the hospital ER that year.

But on her good days, she was a hoot! Telling the wildest of stories and cursing her head off. I loved her dearly. I loved going over to her house. Those last few years, she needed a lot of help, I went over often.

Two days ago, her birthday reminder popped on my phone. And today, I stopped by and put a fresh bouquet of flowers for her birthday.

And told her to say hi to my mama who passed away 17 months after Essie.

I said

“Essie, can you believe mom died too? Can you believe that shit!? Ain’t that something?”

I imagined her saying. “Yeah, that sure is something Catherine. It sure is a whole bunch of shit. Life ain’t nothing but a whole bunch of shit, I tell you. I remember..”

And two hours later, I might have started saying I gotta go Essie..and maybe 2 hours later I would have been finally leaving. She loved to talk, she loved people, she was a wonderful authentic human. I miss her still. Happy Birthday Essie. Don’t be cussing so much in heaven❤😅