The Good Life

Chapter 57

Marla woke up in the middle of the night feeling a tug at her shirt.

”Mommmaaa…I can’t sleepppp…” she heard Rosalia tell her mother in a quiet voice.

”Come over here…” she motioned picking her up squeezing her daughter next to her body. ”Tell me what happened, mi amor…”

”Mommmm….you were gone. Another lady was my mom. It was scary.” Rosalia told her.

”That’s not going to happen…I’m right here.” Marla told her hugging her daughter kissing her on the tip of her curly head. She closed her eyes falling asleep again waking up to Bruno’s hand hitting her on the side through his tosses and turning. She glanced at the clock seeing that it was almost 7 in the morning. Even if it was a Sunday she decided to get up taking the piece of paper Bruno had written on the evening before reading over it. I remember that. It was good. She thought to herself. I need to do this too…She took a piece of paper like the one he had written on beginning to write to her husband.

Dear Bruno,

Last night was perfect. Thank you for bringing all the memories back to me, even if they were just there for a moment. I will try to remember them all for you today. Today will be a good day, just like yesterday. I love you too.

Mar

She left it on his side of the bed underneath his phone where she knew he would look first. She went into the kitchen getting breakfast ready- cinnamon rolls and orange juice. She put the rolled up cinnamon rolls in the oven grabbing a small cup of coffee sitting in front of the TV. She flipped to E! news to see what they were talking about. She told herself she was going to avoid it, but also knew that there were occasions when they would talk about people she supposedly knew. Those stories sometimes brought back memories for her. Suddenly she heard his name mentioned…”Bruno Mars has fallen off the radar recently. Rumor was we would have album number 4 by the end of this year…but recently personal struggles have taken over. Here’s Kristina with the story…..” Oh my god. What are they going to say? How much do they know? A picture of the two of them at that year’s Grammy’s talking about his success. She stated, ”He’s amazing. He does everything. He deserves everything and more…” they interrupted her statement by moving onto the actually story. ”Bruno’s other half, Marla, has been by his side since 2010 and the couple has one 3 year old daughter. The couple has always been open about Marla’s struggles with epilepsy…” they cut to a clip of her speaking at a national Epilepsy Foundation fundraiser. ”The key to making it is surrounding yourself with people who will remain by your side no matter how good or bad things are. Great parents, great kids, great spouses…” they cut her off again. ”Marla’s struggles took over the family’s life recently when she suffered a life altering seizure placing her in the hospital for more than a month suffering severe memory loss. They went to a neurological expert who she didn’t know. ”Seizures lasting more than 5 minutes can cause brain damage. Without knowing the background…” fuck, you don’t know shit. She thought continuing to listen to the doctor. ”she could have suffered memory loss as short as a few days to as long as several years. The key to recovery is support and cues.” We contacted Mars for comment on Marla’s health and have not received any comment back. We wish the Mars family well and hope to hear good news from them soon.” Kristina finished her statement.

”Turn that shit off, Mar…”Bruno said to her coming up behind her kissing her head. ”Good morning, beautiful.”

”Bruno…you didn’t tell me that they asked about it…” she confronted him at the kitchen table where he sat. He looked up at her through his thick glasses.

”Marla…I just didn’t think you wanted to talk about it…” he told her.

”It’s not about talking about it..it’s about the awareness. Of course it’s hard to talk about it. But if there’s even one other family going through this it will help. ” she said diplomatically. Shit. That’s old Marla. He thought to himself. She always makes sense….