Her home was built around a tree.

That’s the last place where she saw me.

After her husband passed away

There wasn’t much that I could say.

We rarely spoke as years flew by.

I now feel bad I didn’t try.

I was too young to understand

Communication wasn’t banned.

“Tell her college comes in the fall-

And how you got accepted to all.”

Although she might not understand,

Help her out like holding her hand.”

“Tell her Jackie, she’ll be so proud.

Remember that you must speak loud.

She had a stroke not long ago

And lost a lot she used to know.”

I pressed my ear against the phone

She spoke in such a quivery tone.

She said she was so proud of me.

I heard her smile, though I couldn’t see.

In the next few months, we talked some more

Which I learned, was not a chore.

What I heard from her and others,

Let me reveal things undiscovered.

At 90 years old, she was sick,

Although she was tough as a brick.

Conversation brought up her health

Followed by her successful wealth.

“By the end of the year she will die,”

They told me, but I didn’t cry.

I didn’t think it would be this soon,

But then he stepped into the room.

I saw his face, something was wrong.

My dad- his last grandparent gone.

Breathing became too hard for her.

On that Wednesday she wouldn’t stir.

Suffocation caused her demise

And one last time, she closed her eyes.