my mom

“And ransom captive Israel…”

We went to church on Christmas Eve afternoon with Jeff’s mom, and it was a simple, lovely, musical service. There was a band, maybe five musicians, and the service began with everyone standing to sing a few well-known hymns. Then everyone sat down, there was another song or two, and then a woman came to

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FreeVerse: A fragment, or draft

Just got this into my head and wanted to “jot it down,” might try to expand it more later, or might not. A year ago tonight, my mother passed away.In the Eastern Time Zone, it’s tomorrow,but here in Kansas, it was, it’s still, today. Imagine the many words we couldn’t saywill be fiery red flowers

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Happy Anniversary to Scout, Atticus, Harper … and Chris & Harry

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is one of very few books that I would recommend to anyone, if they haven’t read it yet. It’s the only book that I recommend to people who don’t read very often. During my husband’s months of unemployment,

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FreeVerse: Still trying to decide on a title

Only a few hours after my mother died on October 14, 2009, I got up during the night and began writing this poem. I added to it on October 16, but then didn’t really touch it until last week. Then, I decided to type it up on the computer, maybe do some editing as I

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FreeVerse: A Box, A Life

This is from a post I originally published on my blog at MySpace. (I checked the other day, and apparently I haven’t logged into my MySpace account since October 2008. Jeff didn’t know how that could be right, but I know it’s been a LONG, LONG TIME, and I know how the months fly by

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Of Paper, and Its Work

For weeks now, Jeff has had piles of paperwork and folders set aside in an area of our bedroom, waiting for me to sort through them and determine what can be recycled. This morning, after sleeping in, I woke to a few inches of snow, which immediately pushed away any ambition I might have had

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It’s been 8 days; do I feel sad enough?

Not long after midnight on October 14, my mother quietly passed away into the next world. I spent hours on the phone with people — family, and the funeral director, and various nursing home and hospice staff — and got the arrangements made, and I flew to Boston early last Friday. I spent some time

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“Let’s have some cooperation here!”

When I was in the sixth or seventh grade, I found among our endless piles of paper an old newsletter from my preschool. There was a note about me in the newsletter, among the stories for parents about their children’s doings. I don’t remember the incident itself – I would have been four years old

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My mom receiving hospice care again

It has been far too long since I wrote an update on my mother’s health and condition. I’m afraid if I start, I’ll find details I need to include, and it could take me all day, and I never HAVE all day available, so I just didn’t say much of anything. My mom’s eating had

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Happy anniversary, with a little help from the Flintstones

Jeff and I got married eleven years ago today. Time flies when you’re too damn busy! But we’re all right — we have each other, and we even still like each other most of the time! 😉 I thought of this song and video this morning. I remember that my mom and I both LOVED

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