What to say

I realize I have too many people that don’t know that the queen mum has passed. She has gotten all these birthday and Christmas cards that need to be responded too. I am overwhelmed at the thought of having to call or write them at this moment. I ask my warrior sister if she will write an obituary and she agrees and says she will send me her version and I can fill in.

This reminds me of a short piece I wrote a few years ago about Grace and obits. Here it is.

I  knock on mum’s apartment door,  then use my key to enter; she is horizontal on her yellow and blue couch, the pillows barely propping her up. Her body is angled to the couches edge, I’ve stopped asking her to sit up or lay straight.

“What do you think of this?” she asks as she hands me an obituary she has cut out of the paper? Mom reads the paper everyday and the first thing she reads is the obituaries.

I take the obit, find my glasses and start to read.

On October 13, 2009, Denise Hackin passed away peacefully at home after successfully beating mad cow disease only to be eaten by a polar bear. The obit has a picture of Denise.

“Can you believe that picture?” my mother asks. “What is with that outfit?”

I don’t know how to answer this question I’m still imaging what it would be like to be eaten by a polar bear.

“What would you like your obit to say?” I ask as she goes back to her newspaper.

“Forget it, she replies, ‘all the good ones have been taken.”