Harriet Dawn died last night at 4:23 pm. She has danced around with her departure before. Minutes away from overdosing, she decides to reconstruct her entire life, but she didn't want to clean her life up, rebuild relationships, or just start fresh. All she wanted was to have a legendary obituary. A legacy. She wanted to be commemorated for her benevolence. I knew it was going to be a big burden, but it turned out to be the best thing I have ever had to do. I, Anne Sherman,  was put in charge of Harriet Dawn’s last words.
October 9th, 2015. Harriet Dawn woke up. All alone. In the biggest house in San Francisco. She’s had a couple of rough years; kicked out of her own business, divorced, stopped talking to her daughter, and lost every single friend she has ever had. You might feel bad for her, but if you knew her there wouldn't be one single shred of sorrow in your mind. Harriet Dawn is a b****. To her, my sole purpose in life is to write her obituary. In her eyes that is my end all be all, and anything less than perfect is horrific.
An onion. She has many layers, and you could either pull them back one at a time, or you could use a knife. In this case, the knife wasn’t an option. This woman was going to take some time. She has four requirements for her obituary: she needs to be loved by her family, admired by friends, touched someone's life, and she needs a wild card. I have no options. I would actually have to get to know Harriet Dawn. Why don’t you go ahead and kill me because God knows she will.
Number One, being loved by her family. This is going to be tricky. Harriet is divorced and hasn’t spoken to her daughter in over 10 years. Aliceson is a splitting image of Harriet and that's what frightens her. Aliceson is a very successful lawyer. Harriet cannot win against her. Compared to Aliceson she’s powerless, and powerless is not a word used to describe Harriet. Alison doesn’t need Harriet’s love anymore. It’s amazing how one visit to the courtroom and a few lawyers could change that.
Number two, admired by friends. Harriet Dawn was not loved by all. She wasn’t even loved by one. Her hairdresser, her gardener, heck even strangers know it. When Harriet first walked into my office, she handed me a list of 200 names. 200 names of people she knew. After days of interviewing all of them, 3 tanks of gas, and a bunch of 5 letter words, not one of them had anything nice to say. It’s almost sad. There is nothing I could even tweak to make remotely nice.
Number three touched someone's life. I found a Mentor program called the Sparrow's Nest. Harriet wasn’t happy about this. She thought wasting money and time on a little incompetent girl would do her no good. Harriet never knew it would end up being the best thing she ever did. Bee was a twelve-year-old ball of cuss words, matted hair, and a big personality. Harriet ended up loving the girl to death. Bee brought life, laughter, and happiness into what was left of Harriet’s life. Normally you would think the adult would be the mentor. Not in this case.
Number four, Wildcard. Harriet Dawn seems like the dullest person in the world, but she has a shocking secret. 1970s rock records. A whole bunch of them and that’s not all. Not only does she own them, she also knows everything about 70s rock. On October 25th Harriet walked into radio station. She got the owner to fire a young blonde for a 70 year-old woman, got approval to play whatever she likes, and did all that in under 10 minutes. Amazing. Harriet Dawn found her wildcard. Her end is here, and I’m not ready for that.
Number five, letting go. I never thought I would be standing here today. When I met Harriet, I thought she would be the death of me. I never thought I could ever grow to love her. Harriet taught me so much. She changed my life. Harriet was an irritable old woman. I thought it would be a relief when she passed, but now I can hardly imagine life without her. I only knew her for 2 months, but she grew to be family. Harriet Dawn, you were loved, and I will miss you more than you can ever imagine.