Sunday February 11, 2018; 10:02 AM EST
- Something happened -- my mom died on Monday.#
- I wish I never had to write those words. #
- I wish I didn't have to click Publish.#
To personal friends who are just finding out about this now, apologies. I got in touch with a few people personally in a very scattered way, this week. Her death was unexpected, a shock, but in a way not unexpected. She was 85, her health was in decline. She wanted to be in control of her death, and in the end she was. It didn't happen exactly the way she wanted, she died in a hospital, but it was quick, decisive, she didn't linger in decline. This was very important to her. #- My mom read this blog, probably every word, and I was always aware of it, so I stayed away from taboo subjects in my family. Now that my parents and uncles and grandparents are gone, it may free me up a bit. How will I use that freedom? Maybe not at all. But I can become a broader kind of writer. There are stories to tell! ❤️#
- I loved my mom, deeply. I'm finding that out now in new ways. We are very much the same kind of person, and we clashed often. She was a Mets fan too (of course). We came up with the idea of Shea Stadium Rules, to remind us that we were mostly on the same side, at least for what was important. #
- I got my righteous indignation from her. You never wondered what her opinion was. My mom was a natural born blogger. Before there were blogs she wrote Letters to the Editor of the New York Times.#
- She made her city better. She made childrens' lives better. She lived her values.#
- Anyway, we're still here, for now. Let's make the most of it!#
- PS: I thought about it more, my mom was't just an NBB, she was the NBB, as far as I was concerned. When I imagined a blogger, she was who I thought of. When I said Julia Child would have been a great blogger, I was really thinking that my mom would be. I didn't want to make this stuff personal, and people already make condescending analogies about moms and tech, so I let Julia be the stand-in.#
- PPS: My mom was a blogger, but she was terrible at technology. She had a Mac early-on. She insisted her psychology interns and students use a computer. If they didn't she didn't want them. "Too stupid," she said. But still she never wanted to actually learn how to do it. I wanted her to take a class. Please learn how to use these tools, I said. Never happened. #
