Barbara Loretta Gomez

Barbara Loretta Gomez was simply beautiful. She had dark hair and matching dark eyes along with a tiny waist and petite features. She was elegant, kind, and loved the bad boys. She had two sisters who were just as similar to her as they were different. One was responsible, stern, intelligent. The other was loud, funny, free. Barbara was outgoing—never bashful, sweet, funny, sometimes a bit controlling, but if you knew her, you knew it was because she just loved so much.
One day she met Walter Nowak. He wasn’t exactly what she wanted—that is until he was exactly what her mother hated. He was good looking, definitely her type, there was attraction, but love? She wasn’t so sure. She married him though, just to spite her mother. They had three children, Pamela, Scott, and Janet. Barbara knew she didn’t love Walter when she met Pam. Pam was her first daughter, and Pam taught her was love really was.
The relationship with Walter began to spiral downward. He would come home from his gas station business, and hide whatever money he made from her and the children. The life wasn’t easy, but it was what they had. Barbara would have unexplained bruises, and Walter would have unexplained girlfriends. It wasn’t working.
They got a divorce. There wasn’t ever a custody issue, for most of her children were old enough to decide for themselves where they wanted to be. Barbara wanted to be wherever her Pam was though. From New Jersey to North Carolina, Pam was never without her mom. Through her own hard times, getting married, having Brian, getting divorced, having Gary, getting married again, losing two babies, then finally having a girl, the girl she always wanted, Katie.
Barbara by far favored Brian and Katie over Gary, but that was alright with him, his other Grandma was there to understand. Brian may have been her little Prince, but Katie was her angel, and boy, did she love angels.
For thirteen years life was as it always is, hard. A few trips to the hospital, many tears later, Barbara would come out alright, a bump or scratch and a few prescriptions later. Brian had long moved out, as did Gary, but Gary as was still around, Brian was lost. Lost to smoking, sex, poverty, all the temptations. He dropped out of college, had a son, then gave him up for adoption. His grandmother, Barbara was the only person he would talk to, because with her, he wasn’t reprimanded, or scolded for his mistakes. He was told he was loved.
Gary watched as Brian made mistakes, and attempted to avoid them himself. He also quit college, but only because he could no longer afford it. Gary dated the same girl for seven years. It was his first girlfriend. He loved her.
Katie was getting older, but Barbara didn’t notice. She still saw her little angel, no matter what she was told. Katie would get easily annoyed with being babied. She didn’t understand, then how much she actually didn’t mind all the attention. Katie reached middle school, and that’s when everything went to pot. She learned curse words, she lost her childish innocence, she learned about sex. Within a year, she wasn’t the same as she was before. She was still Barbara’s angel though.
When Katie reached seventh grade, Barbara became sick. She was sent to hospital after hospital. Katie was told what was wrong, but didn’t understand it. One day, Pam and Katie went to visit her in the hospital. It wasn’t an exciting visit. Katie was anxious to get out, to go shopping, to not be stuck in that boring room with the television playing a show that no one knew and the old Grandmother who was dozing off mid-conversation. Katie regrets this moment.
A few weeks later (after an unsuccessful surgery), as she was being picked up from school, her Dad came. She was expecting her mother. She asked him where Pam was and he told her. “They’re letting her go.”
She hadn’t even said a proper goodbye. Tears started to fall, and she started screaming. She wasn’t ready for this yet. She wasn’t ready. She hadn’t told her how much she loved her. She hadn’t told her everything yet. She wasn’t ready.
It was a hard time for the family. Brian no longer had someone to tell him how much he was loved. Gary no longer had his Grammy. Katie no longer was babied. It wasn’t right.
When time came for the funeral, Brian realized he would have to face his family after two long years of avoiding them. When he drove down the driveway, Katie bounded down the stairs to greet him. She didn’t recognize him. If she wasn’t told that this man in front of her was her brother, she wouldn’t have known.
The funeral wasn’t fun. The family was surrounded by “I’m sorry for your loss” and Katie felt as if she were drowning in tears, stories, and old pictures. She didn’t want to hear, “She loved you so much” she just wanted her back.
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Two years later, the family was one again. Brian was still making mistakes, but he was happy. His family was there for him to tell him, I love you. Gary was no longer with his first love, Gary was exploring, trying to figure out who he really was. Katie entered high school. She had passed through her middle school years, and anyone who has ever been to middle school knows that this is the worst time.
They all missed her. Brian, Gary, Katie, Pam, Scott, Janet, and all the others Barbara had touched. The missed her like hell.
One of the many things that the family got from her was a crystal for decoration. They placed it in their kitchen window and on sunny days, at ten o’clock, she comes to them. Just as the sun hits the crystal, millions of rainbows litter the kitchen. And with a smile, she is greeted, “Hi Grammy.”