#MomInABox

My mother died last year on Christmas morning.

I’m not looking forward to Christmas this year.

I took this back in May, when I was up to visit Germy Coitus Trophy Numero Onesy.

We’re home, Mom. Welcome back to North Carolina. It’s been an epic road trip, but I’m exhausted. Glad to be home and sleeping in my own bed, even if for just a couple of nights. You were always such a home-body, and I think I’ve inherited that from you. I’ve been posting pictures and thoughts […]

We took a brief jaunt up to Dayton yesterday afternoon to visit with friends. Today we’re headed home. I don’t know about you, Mom, but I’m worn out. I’ve been posting pictures and thoughts about my mother, sort of to my mother, on Instagram, Twitter, and my personal Facebook page. You can follow along and […]

Thank you, Mom, for keeping these safe. I wish I could ask you who a lot of these people are. Some of these are from well before I was born. I hadn’t thought about my Bozo-the-Clown punching bag in years. Funny, the things that brings to mind. I have the bell-ringing turtle from my first […]

I don’t know if you’d ever visited the Gateway Arch, Mom, but we were in the neighborhood, on the way back to Columbus. I wonder, if given the chance, where you’d have liked to have road-tripped with me. I’ll bet you’d have been a blast at Mardi Gras, or a college football championship game – […]

I’d never been to Kansas before yesterday. I’d also never been to Oklahoma. But they were both relatively short distances away, and who knows when I might again get the chance to put my feet in their respective soils. One more road trip with you this summer. I’m still undecided about what to do with the […]

This one’s a little out of order, but it’s a hard one to explain, Mom. You worried so much over the years thinking I might be mad at you for leaving. I wasn’t angry with you for leaving, Mom. I was confused that all my friends had moms at home and I didn’t, but it […]

We’ve made it to Missouri for my mother’s first memorial service. It’s been a memorable road trip, the next to last for my mother and me. Maybe. I may keep some of her ashes and bring her back here from time to time. We’ve arrived, Mom. Jennifer got this pretty little cabin near the marina […]

My mother died this past Christmas morning. She was 67. She was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, but spent the last twenty years of her life in Cross Timbers, Missouri. We’re having two memorial services for her, the first in Missouri, tomorrow at 1:00, so her friends from there can pay their respects, and […]

So yesterday was the day I finally opened the boxes.     One of my oldest and dearest friends, Elizabeth, called yesterday from NYC to be with me as I did this. I had her on Bluetooth, until my earpiece died and I had to hold the phone for the last bit. Elizabeth has been […]

It’s time. Around 12:30 this afternoon one of my dearest friends, Elizabeth, is going to call, and we’re going to open the boxes together. I’m going to preemptively forgive myself for substituting a glass or two of wine for lunch, and I hope you will, too. See you on the other side.     To […]

I have a wall in my library/dining room at Galerie Chez Louis that I call the I Love Me Wall. It’s where I hang my awards and such. The term dates back to my old days in the U.S. Army, when we all had a wall at home on which would hang all our medals […]

I was just writing a few weeks ago about how I love surprises. It turns out I don’t love *ALL* surprises, however. I most certainly did not love this one. I got the call this past Christmas that my mother had died earlier that morning. It was a really tough day, followed by several more. The cumulative […]