Face # 9: Godspeed into the hereafter, Eva!
So, folks, at the end of 24’ I lost a buddy. An elderly buddy, but a buddy, nonetheless. Last year I started doing a little volunteer work in my community, spending time on random Saturdays in food pantries and soup kitchens. One of those Saturdays I met Eva, an old lady with a medical condition that required frequent cranial surgery. Eva was always extremely conversational with everyone, because she loved life and people. Eva wore shawls to cover up her cosmetically damaged scalp and despite her condition, she chose to be happy, friendly and optimistic with everyone. We became friends after I noticed she had a unique ability to read how you were feeling or what you were thinking just by observing your facial expressions and body language. Eva was a mother of four, grandmother to twelve, and she loved professional wrestling. Although I haven’t watched the product since my late teens, I found myself compelled to occasionally visit her at her assisted living community and watch WWE, TNA and AEW. Her favorite type of wrestler was the chickenshit heels, who she would laugh and boo at. Outside of that, we would talk about each other’s lives and experiences, and when she caught me being melancholy or negative, she’d say something like, “Get your head out of the wreckage, kiddo, good things are a ‘coming for you!”
Come late December, I went by her room to visit with some baked goods for the holidays, and her family was there instead. I asked what happened, and they told me she passed peacefully during a recent surgery. After lightly bawling in the lobby, I went home and drew her face to remember her. I'm not saying it's a good drawing, but it does remind me of her. I wish I would have appreciated our time even more than I did, and I wish I could have spent more time with her. I’ll miss you, Eva. I’ve got one more of these to go and it’ll be a self-portrait… but I’m going to be taking a break from Tumblr soon, so that’ll be much later this year.
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