For years I have said I would love to have my mother near me. I wanted to give her a sweet final chapter. I wanted her to see her grandchildren on a regular basis, make cookies, travel and just generally host her final act, showing her all the love I have to give. Mom coming to stay so quickly with nothing but a doll suitcase, 2 pair of sneaks, 2 sweaters, 1.5 pairs of my Chrissy doll shoes and, oddly, the panties from her trousseau in 1957, felt more like a bomb than a blessing. Why, in everything from her road trip across the nation with my brother, drinking Irish coffee at road side diners at night, the panties strike me as the odd thing, who knows….. Anyway I have written about Mom before. Her love story with Dad was grand and I would say so was her grief but honestly I know he is here and so does she. They talk at night and she tells him how much she loves him. I don’t know all the details because they appear to whisper amongst themselves.