I had no idea that August 12th is World Elephant Day. I like to think that mom would have been happy about that. It’s been four years now and I miss her as much today as I did the day she left. It breaks my heart that my two boys will never know their her, […]
I’m sure we weren’t the only family that did this, of course, but our “Twelve Days of Halloween” song was very special to us. My sister and I loved singing this with mom every year. I’ve got no way to determine exactly the date, but one year mom transcribed the lyrics. Judging by the handwriting, […]
This will be our second Christmas without mom. I still miss her so much that it hurts. I wrote a little bit about our Christmas Eve traditions on my personal website last year. I wish I had more photos of our Christmas trees. You know what I never seem to see any more? Tinsel. We […]
Shortly after mom died, when I was desperate to find anyone who would give me some advice, I spoke with someone at the law firm of Warner & Warner: Personal Injury Attorneys in Casselberry, FL. I had a very long conversation with this person, often in tears, during which I detailed how my mom had […]
I called Marla Rawnsley at 7:27 AM PT on my way into the office in late November 2013. Someone named Diane at Pappas, Russell & Rawnsley told me that Marla wouldn’t be in the office until one o’clock, so I set an iPhone reminder for myself to call again at 10:00 AM. I tried again […]
From: David Gagne To: Kelly Mathis CC: Jill Bechtold Subject: Re: Kathleen A. Gagne Sent: January 3, 2013 @ 12:17 AM PDT Hello, Kelly and Jill, Thank you so much for your reply. The holiday season was very difficult for me; I’ve never celebrated Christmas without my mom. A few days after I talked […]
I wrote a little something about Christmas in our family on my personal website. I am so, so heartbroken this holiday, our first without mom. She should have gotten to enjoy being a grandmother and she should have gotten to have many, many more Christmases and it’s just not fair. I miss her so much. […]
Today is our first Thanksgiving without mom. One Thanksgiving twenty years ago — maybe twenty-five? — she made a batch of amazing candied yams. I think she screwed up the recipe somehow, added too much brown sugar or left them in the oven too long, something like that. I thought they were the best thing […]
On November 11th, 2011, I sent my mom a card for Thanksgiving using the Apple Cards iOS app. It’s a great app to use for sending physical greeting cards to people that aren’t likely to enjoy an ecard. When I sent it to her, I really had no idea how much she was struggling. On […]
Hope springs eternal.