I pulled this sweatshirt out of the back of the closet and have been wearing it recently. I bought a couple of them two years ago–one for Mom and one for me. Unfathomable: It was our last Christmas together. Mom, Aggles, and I spent it in great style at Clare's lakeside cabin in TN. No romance about it, though: it was extremely difficult and I can cry now thinking about it.
Today I wore the sweatshirt out on some errands and everybody was extremely nice to me. The guy at the post office wanted to put my boxes together and tape them up for me and give me used bubble wrap from the back if I needed any. The woman clerk who's usually sour didn't wheedle and sigh.
At Safeway the Express Lane cashier motioned me over even though I had more than 15 items and proceeded to tell me all about the trip to Tahoe he and his family were planning over Christmas. They would be leaving on the 23rd–Wait, was that a Thursday, he asked?–and then returning on Monday. He was keeping his fingers crossed that the storm would go around them.
I'm happy to not be going anywhere this month and my sister is, too. But I'll miss Aggles (and her cooking). And we'll think about Mom and Dad and Operation Moon Base and the Robert Shaw Chorale and ribbon candy and crescent cookies.
