We arrived in Boston in the morning before Courtney’s graduation. That night there was going to be some kind of reception she wanted me to be at if possible, but that was way in the future compared to the logistical task of getting us from airplane to taxi. I should probably tell you what Claire […]
“Are you doing all right?” That was what he wanted to know. The one thing I really wasn’t sure I could answer. “I was going to ask you that.”
It’s funny. I think if I had been taller or if my hair hadn’t been so long and straight, my presence in the dress department of Dillard’s would have caused a stir. I think this because when we were getting ready to check out, a man near the entrance to the dressing rooms did cause […]
I gotta wonder if my mother’s life would have been different if she had lived it all along like she was worried what people would think of her after she was gone. Not that I think everyone should go around thinking about death all the time. Far from it. But I suppose there’s a fine […]
Two days later, when I joined Claire and Rita for a game of hearts in the activity room, Rita pushed a file folder in my direction. Her cheeks were pink and she cleared her throat. “My daughter informs me that if I don’t get your autograph she’s cancelling her Mother’s Day visit.” Claire was holding […]
Claire improved enough to go to church the next Sunday. When one of the other women heard we were going to go, she asked if she could come along, too. Her name was Rita and I was of course happy to chauffeur whoever, so long as they were medically cleared to go. Rita had some […]
Sometimes no words is the safest choice. I should tell you about my first conversation with Ziggy after the post-Barrett rock-throwing incident. I called him from the efficiency apartment/extended-stay hotel Remo had found down the road from the care facility. It was newly built, everything squarishly modern, and still smelled like fresh paint.
The thing about having a relative dying of a terminal illness is that no one asks you why you’re crying. They think they know. (Which sometimes means they know more than you do.)
Up to that point I had not spent much time alone with Barrett. I felt we knew each other pretty well–or at least that he knew me pretty well–by osmosis, through Ziggy. He’d been there through a lot of my ups and downs–mostly downs. I think we were often somewhat careful around each other, though. […]
I went to mass on Easter Sunday alone. Claire wanted to go, but at the last minute said she didn’t feel up to it. Somehow that turned into me going on my own. The two most popular masses at any Catholic church are going to be Easter and Christmas. So even if I was in […]