“Boundaries protect the things money cannot buy.“

PART I

“Tio!” She screamed into the telephone early one morning. He woke up startled. At his old age of 73 years old, he was not used to jumping out of sleep. Feeling the thump in his heart that rose to his ears like a swift blow. His body was still asleep as he jolted his eyes open. “What! What’s happening?”

The sun had not yet risen. He laid paralyzed in bed…alone.

He went to bed early each night to avoid the darkness of the night. He couldn’t bear the evening dust. Each night his mind fixated about how to undo this unfortunate reality. He was a widow for two years, but it felt like an eternity.

He was alone, every moment of the day. ‘I should be used to this already…’ he’d think. All of his children grown. He had his own life now, quiet and worry free. ‘This is old age…right?’ Well thats what he told himself.

Burying his late wife was the hardest thing he’d ever done. After watching her lose the battle with cancer, the illness that took her life, he vowed his passing would be easy.

Easy. Yup, that’s what it would be. So as he made the arrangements for his wife’s final goodbye, he planned his own. He picked the casket, floral arrangements and even decided on the church. Now all he had to do was to wait.

“Papa is gone…”the mumbled voice spoke. He could now hear his youngest brother’s wife sobbing in the background. He glanced at the clock that read 3:48am. He stood up quicker than his body wanted. He ignored the mild ache that followed.

“I will be over soon’’ he said.

He was not the first to arrive. He did live a distance from them but was surprised to see family who lived further. Did he take that long to arrive? Was he the last to be called?

Everyone looked worried when he arrived, not sad but worried. He observed a different cloud hanging over their faces.

“How is everyone doing?” He fought the words to ask more.

He had not seen or heard much from anyone after his wife’s health begin declining. He never spoke about his burdens or how he coped. But he rarely received calls asking about his own well being to do so anyhow.

He understood why he would receive a call now. His younger brother had suddenly passed. This was important.

A familiar voice approached him. The niece who called him just a few hours ago. As she came to greet him he noticed how much older she was. “Tio, let me take your coat, everyone is in the kitchen.’’

His remaining siblings sat at the large table. By this time, four siblings had passed leaving only three alive to handle the arrangements. Days after his eldest brother passed, so did his wife.

Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t have left his wife’s side to plan for his brother’s final goodbye. His wife had been too sick, and she was just starting to feel like herself again. She called his name like a sweet summer day. She was finally coming around he thought.

Then the news broke of brother, and she told He had no one to share his burden with. Unsure of how the arrangements were handled.

None of his family besides his very own children attended the funeral for his wife. He could not blame them. Who would want to pick which person to deliver their last respects to. But at the time he was enraged. It took him years to come to terms that they were not purposely letting him down, although a part of him always felt disappointed.