3 Years Today

Today is the third anniversary of my mother's passing. Next month she would have turned 79 years old. There are days when I really want to pick up the phone and call her for some reason or another. There are days when I want just one more day. But she's still around. There are lots of occasions when I realize that she has just moved on but leaves reminders around for me to see.

Most recently, I found myself thinking of her when they did the "dead montage" during the Academy Awards. My mother and I would watch together at times, with the World Almanac between us checking to see how old one of the presenters was or whether that person had won before and when, etc. My mother never really got hooked on the web, but it was made for her. I come by my archival traits genetically. My mother craved information.

Anyway, during the "In Memoriam" sketch during the Oscars telecast, the only speaking acknowledgment came from Paul Newman, who was one of my mother's favorites. She used to say that "he could put his shoes under her bed anytime." Wherever my mother is, I envision it as a place where she is well again, at an age where she was most happy, and is near all of her friends and family who left before her. But my mother, who hated not having a full table of guest, friends and family for any holiday, has surely had dinner with Paul several times since he got there. I won't think about what else might have happened.

It is also nearing Girl Scout Cookie time. Several stories crossed my radar screen recently, every single one making me remember the years my mother served as neighborhood cookie mother and our living room would be strewn with cookie boxes and the freezer would be stocked with Thin Mints, as they were the only cookie that really froze well. And they were her favorite. So again, wherever she is, I'm sure she's having a spirited conversation with Julie and Olave about these egregious sins being committed in this economic downturn. And I feel the pain of those in the last story. If I want a fix of Tagalongs or Samoas, I have to practically go out on the black market at my employer to find them.

• "Rising costs bite into Girl Scout Cookie portions," seen via Buzzfeed from the Dallas Morning News
• "Crumbling economy will make for thinner boxes of Thin Mints," from CNN
• "Thin Mints and office politics," also from CNN
  

I love you, Mom. I miss you. Rest well, you've earned it. But you would have really loved that story about Teresa's daughter. But I'll tell it to Bill and he'll make sure it gets into the family history.