words..

This is a moblog picture I took of a page of Mom’s writing…

It was sitting on a card table in the den that contained piles of Christmas cards. Seemed to be a list of people to send cards to, though she hadn’t sent many out in past years. She used to insist on cards that had pictures of the nativity on them (expensive, produced by genuine Old Masters). That was the reason for the cards, she figured.

She made a show of being religious. She even explained in detail to me how she “offered up” (a catholic phrase) her quitting smoking in order to get me back to the church. God’s never bargained with me, though I’m pretty sure he’s a shrewd customer. Didn’t work… the getting me back to the church part, not the quitting smoking part. At least she didn’t die of emphysema as two of her sisters did. (We are a weak-lunged bunch of women.)

Tomorrow evening is her visitation, and the next morning, her mass, for the friends here in Miami Beach. Then, she gets her very last ride on Delta to Cincinnati.