BUENOS NOCHES, SUSIE Q.

Mom called last night at an inopportune time – 11 pm on a Friday, you don’ wanna know what kinda trouble I was into – and I didn’t answer. I called her back an hour ago. She was en route to mass, so couldn’t speak at length, but wanted to tell me my older cousin, Consuela “Susie Q” Escobedo Weidenbaker Charest, in her late 40s, had a defibrillator and surgery and her heart couldn’t take it. She didn’t make it through the night. She leaves behind her husband Tom, her son Aaron and a newborn grandkid whose name and gender I don’t know (I have 400 immediate family members, am related to all the Escobedos in the land, and my memory tends to cease after 2nd cousins). Mom took it in stride. “Life is hard,” I said, cause I didn’t know what other non-dumb sentiment to proffer, since I’m not a crier so much, at least now that I’m popping these seratonin reuptake shitses my shrink slang me. “We have such a big family we have to be prepared for these things,” mom said. “There’s a memorial service in the morning. She didn’t want a fuss. She wanted to be cremated and immediately buried. I’m going to pray for her at church tonight.
“But I talked to your Uncle Joe [mom’s oldest brother, born in 1920] earlier today. He’s doing great.”
“Uncle Joe will outlive us all.”