Yet another family shock

Back in February of 2020, just before the pandemic hit hard, my sister Laney died. She left behind her wife Anners and several children with paws. Alas, two days ago Anners died. She was 63. A bit more than a month after Laney died and when the pandemic made it clear we could not meet in person for a while I started calling Anners in the evening. I thought it good to check up on her. She agreed I should do it. My brother also called. Part of our conversations were to give her a chance to work through her grief. Another part was to keep her mind off her loss for a while. So many times after we talked about what we had done that day I told family stories, including stories of each of the ancestors I knew something about. Then I worked through old family photographs (dating back to the 1940s) describing them and including stories I remembered. Then it was on to family vacations (yeah, nine of us in a station wagon pulling a fold out camper, and driving from Michigan to Los Angeles and back – before the interstate system was complete), my own extensive travels, and whatever I could remember of the family of her deceased wife. Along the way I sometimes asked about her own upbringing, including where she lived – Tulsa, Houston, St. Louis – before her parents settled in Michigan. Like Laney, Anners worked in the city library system, which is where they met. For much of her 25 year career she was carefully closeted on the job and around the conservative town. The closet door opened because it had to. Laney had a stroke and Anners needed to explain why she was taking time from work. By then her boss and colleagues understood. Sister, Niece, and I visited Anners in mid May. The reason was to celebrate the birthdays of both Sister and Anners – though while we were actually together we didn’t mention birthdays. We did celebrate that after 15 months we could be together and hug each other again. Just over two weeks ago Anners went to the hospital. Ten days later she was sent home for hospice care. Three days after that she died. There is an official cause of death. However, I think the real cause was a broken heart. She had lost the love of her life.