Brother O and family
Here’s my brother Owen. Dad and I went to his place last night for dinner – such a wonderful evening! Owen and Sally have four beautiful, darling children whom I get to know better on each visit. This one was particularly special. We had such great conversation and a fabulous meal and after dinner, a […]
Fisher Island
img_9413.JPG Dad isn’t much into traveling these days. He gets tired easily and he hasn’t the desire or the interest that once took him around the world (to Africa, Portugal, Ireland, Israel and India, to name just a few). But after Mom’s death, he was determined to get to Florida to visit her twin sister […]
Back to Fall River
Being at home with Dad this month has meant many trips down memory lane – some metaphorical, some actual. We went to Fall River several times – where both of us were born, though he lived there for over 70 years and I left at 21. I loved the city, though much of that is […]
Our Emerald
Mary seems to defy nature – she grows more beautiful every time I see her. At Mom’s funeral, her eyes shone with tears and with love and all of us felt so lucky that she had been there throughout, overseeing every detail of Mom’s care and making sure that she was comfortable and pain-free till […]
Lucy, Our Jewel in the Crown
I have already written about all that Lucy did for Mom while she was alive. Here’s what a friend of hers told her about what Mom is going to do for her: Lucy, I was very sorry to hear about your mother’s passing. I know she was a wonderful lady and that you loved her […]
Dad and his Children
All of us together, without Mom. Such a poignant photo, such a sad moment. We wanted to mark it, but we could hardly bear to admit what was now our truth: Mom is no longer here with us. We are all on this earth because of her, and she no longer exists among us. That […]
Flowers
My friend Imrana called from Delhi to say how sorry she was about Mom. During the conversation, she asked me to put a flower on her grave from her. I told her we weren’t doing flowers. That we had asked people to send contributions to Karuna Vihar instead. “Oh, Jo,” she said. “We always need […]
Moving On
I am still in the US with Dad. We spend almost every waking hour together and I continue to feel so grateful for this chance to be with him. He is a brave man. In spite of his age (86) and his enormous loss, he continues to smile and make jokes. He knows we want […]
And now for something completely different . . .
The day of Mom’s funeral. Lucy still in her black dress, Owen, her nine year old son, still in his shirt and tie (the hat was his own addition). Lucy wanted to kiss the beloved boy. He had other ideas. I love the “life goes on-ness” of this one. Of all the grandchildren, Owen and […]
The Funeral
What a final thing the funeral is. We can no longer avoid the stark reality of death, the glaring fact that the person who was once our life, our sweetness and our hope, is no longer among us. For me, the rituals were incredibly helpful. The prayers, the actions, the symbolic ways in which we marked […]