Dear Group, I've been wanting to tell this story ever since it happened but I promised Cora I wouldn't tell a soul. So promise me that you won't let her know that I told it! You may recall back in August when I was still in the hospital recovering from mastectomy surgery, that my niece Deb's grandmother Bea died just a couple of days before I was released to go home. Deb was devastated over Bea's death and she was also very concerned about getting me transported back home. But a friend of mine got me back home nice and easy and I was able to go to Grandma Bea's viewing a couple of days later. Our family was dealing with all of it as well as could be expected. But the day after the funeral something bizarre happened. My dear friend, 97-year-old Cora, was concerned about me and wanted to know how I was recuperating from surgery. She didn't want to bother me at home and so she called Deb's house to ask about me. My young grand niece answered the phone and when Cora told her that she wanted to know how Vee was doing, Amanda recognized the old age tone of her voice, assumed that it was another old lady's phone call about Grandma Bea and automatically replied to her, "she died!' Well, apparently Cora went into shock right then and there! It was more than she could handle. She immediately called her neighbors Dorothy and Jane and told them the shocking news-I HAD DIED!!! They in turn went into shock, got into the car and drove right over to Deb's house along with Dorothy's little poodle. They were both almost hysterical and Jane jumped out of the car and tried to pry some information out of Amanda about what had happened to me. Amanda got a bit confused and went inside and told her mother, Deb, about the two strange hysterical women outside with the yapping poodle who were so upset about Grandma's death. Deb went outside, calmly explained the fine details of Grandma Bea's last hours-Deb was with her at the time in Bea's apartment-and when she described the details of her death, Jane started to put two and two together. She said, "Wait a minute, are we talking about the same person?" Deb then let her know that she was talking about Bea and Jane let her know that she was asking about Vee! At that very moment Jane then shouted back to Dorothy, "Vee's still ALIVE!!" Oh how excited they both were but then within an instant they realized that Cora wasn't aware of the mixup and that Cora was probably on the phone at that very moment letting the whole town know of my sudden unexpected death! Jane dashed back to the car and drove frantically over to Cora's house. She didn't even bother to knock on the door but burst in and found Cora on the phone. Jane asked her who she was talking to and Cora said she was talking with Bernetta. Jane sternly told her to just hang up there and then. Cora did. Now, I knew nothing about this until later when my phone rang. I was calmly sitting in my chair, I answered the phone and when Cora heard my voice, I swear she almost burst into tears! She said, "Is it really YOU?" Well, now, Cora has never been an emotional person and I was really puzzled. But Cora eventually was able to explain to me about her concern about me and how shocked she was when she was informed that I had died. I was really touched. A bit afterwards, Dorothy, Jane and I had a giggly conversation over the whole misunderstanding. It was really hilarious! But in thinking about it now, just as I did then, it sure was nice to know just how shocked the local townspeople would be if I suddenly died and how concerned they would have been. It told me that if I had died, I would have been missed. A body doesn't get such an opportunity as that while they're still alive! vee