Sadness in my other family

I think I've realized how much the choir is a family to me. A younger sister, Bertha, came down with a rare disease about four months ago. She was a tall beautiful Samoan in her early thirties. She had thick black shiny hair down to her waist. She was quiet and mild tempered, kind and lovely. The disease was called an Auto Immune difficiency. It started out as a virus with skin blisters and spread over her whole body. She became an actual burn victim in the intensive care for months. Her hair was shaved and skin grafts were attempted but failed. They said she would surely recover but she just didn't make much progress. I can hardly comprehend the suffering she has been through. Bertha passed away last Wednesday from kidney failure and a collapsed lung. We had choir rehearsal the next day without fail but the mood was somber. It was hard for me to even go but we hugged and cried and mourned for our friend and sister together. We'll be singing at her funeral on Monday . I was a little surprised at how deeply I felt for this person. I spoke to her on occasion but didn't know her well. I think I have discovered that there is a bond that exists between us all in the choir that goes deeper than we realize. Through it all I appropriately had the words to a song in my mind.."there but for you go I"