Mrs. Castillo

Today, as the clouds gathered for a late day rain, our neighbor's daughter approached the garden to tell me that her mother and our neighbor across the hall, Mrs. Castillo, has died. I could see how hard this was for her and yet she bravely told me, said she thought we should know and I'm so glad that she thought so. Unlike Fabio, upstairs, Mrs. Castillo had a strong support network of children and caregivers to help her with her illness. We are so often busy that we hardly saw each other, but we respected her, and helped her when she needed it -simple things like holding the door or getting the mail. I shared garden tomatoes and herbs with her, while she grew some serious hot peppers. We'd give her garlic and she'd bring us cookies. The smells of her cooking often got me jazzed for dinner. Knowing well how building cooking odors can be terribly off, her cooking actually made our building smell better! She will be missed by us, truly, we couldn't have asked for a better neighbor. Requiēscat in pāce, Mrs. Castillo.