Vicky

I was so sorry to get this email from Mike yesterday:

You all will have met our former domestic helper, Vicky Tejero, over the years. As you recall, she left Singapore to return to the Philippines about 5 years ago after learning that she had inoperable cancer of the lung lining.  We heard from her husband that she died this morning after having been taken to the hospital yesterday. She was 51. Vicky never had children of her own but asked yesterday (via her husband) for photos of Vivian and Violet. She had lived fairly comfortably over the past years on her farm in a northern province of the Philippines but became progressively ill in the past 9 months. We are sending some notes from the kids and some money for the funeral and a headstone.

Mike put many pictures of Vicky and the girls on Facebook. I like the one above so much. And, before she died, after she had been taken to the hospital, she asked for pictures of her charges, my darling granddaughters. Vicky never had biological children, but those two were hers, just as much they were Mike's and Paula's. What a loss. 

Yesterday, I did a wash, walked to Ralph's for salad dressing, then home. After lunch, I bused to town, walked Main Street, and bought a few things. I guess I got five miles in, so that was good. Shortly, I'll be leaving for Santa Barbara and will see Betty's new home. I'd like to see Betty, too, but she's long gone--somewhere I can't follow.