The Burrow

This is how she looked when she met my father. This is how she looked when she lived in Tucson. I never knew the first woman.   I enjoyed meeting the second woman,  the one whose memory was failing but who always knew that I loved her.   Some things never changed.  There was always a straw in her Diet Sprite. Her purse was always over her shoulder (see blue strap, above).  She was cold, but never wore a hat -  "I don't look good in hats!" There were some things she never forgot.  Good grammar was imperative and bad grammar demanded correction.  Yellow was her favorite color and chocolate was her favorite food.   Wrinkled shirts and sagging hems were unacceptable; she made her opinions known even when she was no longer in charge of choosing the outfits herself. . Today would have been her 98th birthday. I'd have brought her a prune danish for breakfast, accompanied by a gardenia corsage on the tray.   I'd have taken he...

Little Cuter and FlapJilly caught up with pre-school friends this weekend.  They're at different schools for kindergarten, but the moms don't want to lose touch.  The kids held hands all day; the moms enjoyed easy conversation. Hearing her describe it sent my brain to afternoons in the park three decades ago, when no one judged if there was jelly on your sweatshirt.   The kids were going to be friends because the moms were going to be friends.  And so the kids had many good times because when mama is happy then everybody is happy. I had a wonderful afternoon thinking about that time in my life, thinking about the women in my life at that time, thinking about how time was more elastic then, thinking about how long ago it was and how fresh it is in my mind, thinking about how much I love those people. It's so kind of my daughter to bring that back to me.  Just another reason I love her.