Hospice Talks

When Mom went into hospice, I wanted to get as much out of her head as I could before it was too late.
We talked about what she wanted us to take. We talked about how much we loved each other.
I asked her what her favorite memory of Aimee and me was.
She said it was when we were little in Buffalo and we danced and sang on the fireplace platform, with the fireplace spokes and curtain strings as a fireplace.
I also asked her what her words of advice were for me.
She said to "keep it simple".
I asked what about for Aimee.
She said to "keep it simpler".

Strange Analogies

Mom had a knack for having strange analogies for the things she saw in her world.
My favorite was in Hawaii.
We went to Paris and London as a family when I was 10 years old. The next year we went to Hawaii.
We were walking down the main thoroughfare of one of the islands - either Oahu or Maui - and Mom declared, "This reminds me of the Champs Elysees!"
Aimee and I found this hilarious. Mostly because we were in a tropical paradise, surrounded by palm trees and people walking around in bathing suits - a far cry from Paris in April, with scarves and cigarettes.
But, to Mom, she explained the wide boulevard with the fancy shops reminded her of walking down the shopping destination in Paris. The large differences didn't always matter to her.

Christmas Parties

Mom's parties were epic. They always were. The guests always left beaming and going home with an array of items Mom would pack them up with.
She was never someone who wanted to "half ass" anything, and parties were no exception. She was going to get the best quality food and decorations, and she never forgot to find entertainment.
The Christmas parties were every year as Aimee and I grew up. They were partly for making appearances for Dad and his executive lifestyle, but also they were partly for Mom to have a mission to focus her creativity and craftsmanship.
Usually, though, Mom didn't start putting the party together until a week or two before (save the invitations). The house would become chaotic and we girls knew not to cross Mom during these times.
It was partly a wild prep because it wasn't just about decorating the house with tinsel and a big Christmas tree - Mom would make so much of the party by scratch. She made a gingerbread village from scratch, which meant she was making and molding and baking pounds upon pounds of gingerbread, carefully building the houses with sweets and frosting with painstaking precision so as no house were to look haphazard.
She would make each individual goody-bag for guests. Sometimes they were graham cracker house ornaments. Sometimes they were handmade chocolate pops. Sometimes they were other fun and crafty things. They were never just simple, store-bought kitsch items. They were always perfectly homemade.
She also would make some of the food days in advance and freeze them in the outdoor sunroom/porch, when there was snow. Our freezers and cupboards would be packed with food she would store up for the holidays. Some she would mail order, a lot of it she would still buy from stores all over. It was a lot of people and she had a policy in parties that she had to keep feeding people the whole party.
She always got a great Santa, and had him give the children "magic" gold coins and an envelop filled with "magic sparkles" that the children had to put on their driveways on Christmas Eve so he could find their homes faster.

Roadtrip to Vermont

One summer, when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, Mom and I decided we were going to go on a road trip to Vermont for the day, with the sole purpose of getting ice cream at the Ben & Jerry's Factory. I don't remember why we decided we were going to do this, but it feels like it was one of those spur-of-the-moment things with mom one summer weekend.
We got into the car and we drove for hours and hours, from Massachusetts to Vermont. We listened to a poor radio signal of "A Prairie Home Companion" (a radio show she enjoyed listening to) most of the way there. We talked about how beautiful the mountains were on the drive, and I declared I wanted to live in the Vermont mountains when I got older and write poems all day long. She loved that and remembered that fantasy for life.
We got to the factory during the day and took the factory tour. I was so excited, and we got to try a few new flavors they were testing out. I believe one of the flavors I got to taste (though it was already out there on the market) was Cherry Garcia.
We had a fun adventure. We probably made an outlet stop on the way somewhere, but it was a long time ago so I can't recall.