One of the hardest things about being a motherless daughter is having no one to talk to about her.
Yesterday I heard a sonic boom and the electricity went out. It came back an hour later for two minutes. Another boom, it was out again. So, I went out for pizza and Ross shopping.
Found a great shirt. I know she would have wanted me to have it. Took a photo instead.
I sent it to her but no “I <3 being a Ross hoe with you!” arrived in return.
I sent it to Kelly and Jim. They appreciate $ROST for other reasons. But I did say I would have sent this to Mom. They got it.
I also saw a “Rock Star” sign at the pizza place. Totally Grampy.
But the real reason I wrote today was because I remembered a conversation with Mom that touched my heart.
When I met Cocoa and Belly out at the Target parking lot, I named them Lily and Wally.
She insisted Cocoa was a Cocoa Puff. And that Bella was too pretty to be a dumb boy’s name.
Later, when a vet told me Bella was a Wally indeed, Mom surprised me.
She said she shouldn’t have talked me out of what I wanted to name my kitties.
She said it wasn’t her place, when I was the one who was going to be raising them.
I told her it was no big deal. She chose correctly. They responded to those names. And they were far cuter than whatever I thought of in the dark.
But thinking about it now, what an incredibly generous thing for her to say. To even think about how that might have affected me.
Cocoa will always be my Puff. I called her “Cuteness” half the time anyway. And Cocoapotamus. Cokie. Coca-nut.
And Belly … well we watched a lot of “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” So Bella + Wally = Belly, our beloved TV character.
Magic was her name too but there was never a doubt that if I got a black cat, that would be its name.
Magic is indeed a spell. For as much as i correct him, I like to think of it as calling more magic into my life.
In any event, this all just reminded me how damn lucky I really was.
It also gave me another insight.
Which was that she got to see me become a mom.
And she loved the mother I became, because I learned everything I knew from her.