Fill the cardboard boxes with choices.
Promise you’ll find homes for her great aunt’s linens,
her father’s oak desk, the paired wingchairs
she’s had for forty years.
Listen to her memories.
Let her change her mind, keep
the blue quilt, donate
the green one.
Don’t mention the inevitable estate sale.
Jennifer L Freed is author of When Light Shifts, a memoir-in-poems on care-giving, aging, and family relationships, inspired by the aftermath of her mother’s stroke. Her parents still inspire her. Please visit jfreed.weebly.com to learn more.
Very well done.
Don’t forget the tears, the gasp in breath when you run across your father’s favorite shirt, the one he wore every day, recently laundered and neatly folded in the dresser they shared.
heartfelt.
Touching…
Powerful writing. Touching. Living with anticipatory grief. Brilliant.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts and comments.
Poignant and tender. Lovely writing.
Wonderful, deeply resonated with me. An emotional journey beautifully written about.
Thank you Jon and Teresa. I’m glad it resonated
Congratulations on your story of the week pick! So well deserved.
Thanks very much!
Emotional and educational.
This is so lovely!
I love it when specific opens the door to universal. My mother doesn’t need to have had paired wingchairs, or blue, green or screaming pink (for that matter) quilts, for me to find every word in this piece TRUE. Thank you for this gorgeous piece.
What a wonderful comment. Thank you!
A sad truth for many. Well done.