I loathe Labor Day.

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It is not because of Labor although I´m not for "days". It is because 23 years ago, my husband was dying and it was a long weekend (longer than this one) and every doctor was at the beach. Even his own doctor told us by phone to take him to a hospital. All that from a faraway place. We all knew he was dying but none of us wanted him to die alone. And we did not know what to do. Back then, we were only friends with Humberto and Dixie. Humberto had been the obstetrician when Tania and Claudia had their first children because he had the especiality. And Dixie was a nurse who did not work as a nurse but had had special training in vascular exams in the US. Nothing to do with taking care of people. Only then I didn´t know Dixie. At 11PM Tania told me to call Humberto. And I didn´t dare. We just wanted someone to tell us by phone what to do. So she called him. It was a long call. At some moment, only Humberto asked things. When I asked for Dixie he told me that she would arrive soon. She had left her house in the middle of the night! She checked my husband and then we went to my brother´s house where he had called a friend who was a doctor. Between them, they decided to make a sort of home hospital for him. And the next day Dixie brought a nurse and all sorts of devises to have him hydrated. The nurse meant that she had to write a check. She did it without saying a thing. From then on until May 4th when he died, they were with me. It was Humberto who signed the death certificate. And for several years, I only remembered that all this had happened around Labor Day. And I couldn´t stand it. But now, after so many years I can see that Humberto and Dixie were that last gift that my husband gave me. He left me in the hands of these 2 out of this world people. I still don´t like Labor Day. I brings me bad memories. But I am thankful for my adopted family. They are very important for me.