When Our World Collapses

And Nothing is Ever the Same Again — April 2023

Melody
9 min readJul 22, 2023
Stevie and Flower — so happy together with Stevie and with the family. My heart is broken in two.

Sometimes life comes to a screeching halt when you least expect it. Like on Thursday, April 27 when my son Stevie called me and asked if I could hear him clearly less than a month ago. And he told me Flower, his girlfriend, the love of his life, is about to pass away in the hospital. He didn’t cry when he told me. At first, I didn’t believe what I heard. And then everything hit hard and fast. No, this can’t be true. Not Flower, not my son’s wonderful girlfriend, his “soulmate.” Why??

At first, I thought I misheard. What??? Flower is 31 years old, ten years younger than Stevie. They’ve been together for around five years now. She’s colorful and not afraid to strut her authentic self. I admire and respect her for that. She’ll wear pink platforms and a pink wig just because or carry a purse in the shape of a unicorn. We all love Flower, including my grandkids who have met her a few times when their Uncle Stevie came down to visit. In fact, my grandkids stayed with Flower and their mom because they had the space to accommodate everybody a couple of years ago. She also became friends with Stevie’s ex-girlfriend Liezl. They’re both artists and have lots in common. I loved that everyone gets along so well.

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Melody

Writer of Creative Nonfiction and Fiction; Ukulele Player; Lover of the Beatles, rock n’ roll, and the 1960s. Mom & Grandma; lives in Eugene, OR with BF & cat.