Diane had a mother named Rosemary, who had a background in Italy. Before she moved into the neighborhood she lived in Chicago. When her husband passed she moved to live across her daughter. That’s when Rosemary and Gracie became inseparable. From the moment that she picked Gracie up and locked eyes with her they became the best of friends.   

Throughout the years they would spend all of their free time together. There were even sometimes that Gracie’s mom had lost her.

“Hey, Gerri! What’s up?” Rosemary had heard the phone ringing and picked it up.

“Hey, Rosemary is my daughter over there?”

“Oh yeah! She just walked over and we started playing. Do you want me to send her back home?”

“No, it’s ok. I was just making sure I knew where she was” 

Rosemary was the kind of person that could get you to talk and talk and talk. You could just be a worker at a restaurant or a store, but when you meet her she have you spilling your life story. Nothing was wrong with that, she just liked talking to people and getting to know them. When Gracie was in middle school she was talking with Diane one day and she said that Rosemary was thinking about getting a job at Walmart as a greeter. They both joked around saying that if she got that job no one would get their shopping done. They would just spend their entire time talking with her. 

Rosemary and her had a tradition that they uphold every Christmas. Rosemary had a small shoe tree that was always up. So one year, Gracie got her a shoe for Christmas. They kept that up forever and it was just one of the small things that they did together. 

She lived next to Gracie almost her entire older years until one day. Gracie and her family were out for dinner when they got a call from Diane. She told her mom that Rosemary had a nasty fall. When they later checked to see if she was alright in the hospital Gracie and her mom went next door to clean up the blood. It was a truly gruesome sight. She had fallen in the garage and when she came to she crawled all the way into her house to call her daughter. It did not help that she was one blood thinners. If Gracie did not already know she fell she would have sworn Rosemary got murdered. How the air had a thick smell of metal and it spread throughout the house.

After that, Rosemary moved into an assisted living home. Gracie hardly had time to see her, especially since she could not drive. For the first few times, Gracie visited Rosemary her parents had to take her. So she could not always have the long talks that they used to have. 

For a while, everything seemed fine. Gracie finally got her license and could visit Rosemary whenever she wanted to. Then Rosemary was in and out of the hospital for a while, Gracie would continue to visit her. She finally got better to go on her vacation in Florida. They were going on a Disney cruise, which they have always done. After she came back she felt sick and had to go into the hospital. A few days later John and Diane went back down to Florida to look for places to live down there for Rosemary. Rosemary loved the sun and saw that since she was not getting any younger she might as well move down and enjoy the sun while she can. Well, sadly that never happened. 

One day Gracie woke up to her Mom and Dad crawling into her bed. Her mom started talking to her, but since she was still asleep she could not hear her.

“What? What did you say?” asked Gracie

“Honey, Rosemary passed away this morning”

Those words struck something deep within her. At first, she just sat up in bed and didn’t say anything. Until the only thing you could hear was the shaking sobs for someone who just lost ...not a friend ...not a grandmother ...there are no words to describe what she just lost. Rosemary was supposed to be at her wedding, at her graduation, and so many other celebrations.  

Gracie was lost for weeks and had no idea of what to do. She had a lot of questions, but one outshone every other. What will happen to that tree? To that yearly tradition, they both did together? How will she make Christmas special without her? She found herself struggling with depression even more. Until one day she thought of a way to always remember Rosemary, by a tattoo, something that will never go away. Before she got the tattoo she talked to people who have gotten some before. They said that it would be painful, but it would really depend on the person’s tolerance and where you got it. She chose one of the most painful places to get one. However, when the needle pierced her skin, it was nothing compared to what she felt in her heart.