Mother memory in These titles mean nothing.

11/19 - My favorite memory about my mother is…

My mother died a couple weeks after her 48th birthday. She died suddenly of something in her brain - not a stroke, maybe a cerebral hemorrhage, maybe something not totally known.

The May Sunday before the Tuesday she died we had the first family picnic of the year. My parents liked to take a lunch to Yellow River Forest where there were picnic grounds and camp sites. It was never a big deal - sandwiches, potato chips, a bottle of beer for my dad, kool aid for the rest of us, often a chocolate cake.

I should ask my brother what he remembers about those picnics and if he remembers the last one. Maybe I won’t. He was 10 and I was 14. I’m never sure how our mother’s death affected him. I know it made us less sentimental about death.

The thing I remember about that picnic is there were other kids around. A family was camping nearby. After lunch my mother, the former country school teacher, organized a game of softball. She caught.

I’ve often thought she must have been feeling good that day.

Last updated November 20, 2023