I’ve been putting this off. I wanted to be in a better and stronger head space. I wanted to write this with my head held high. I wanted to make her proud. The truth is my shoulders are slumped as I write through my tears. I’m riddled with guilt, and I’m overcome with shame. IContinue reading “Letting go of my mom’s house”
Category Archives: cancer
Messages from my mom in my brother’s dreams
My mom visits my brother in his dreams. He says they’re so real, so vivid. This doesn’t happen to me so I’m envious. So yeah, sucks for me, but the coolest thing happens after my brother has these dreams. He calls me and describes each one in such detail that I can see it likeContinue reading “Messages from my mom in my brother’s dreams”
Phantom smells trigger real memories
After the flour, salt and baking powder have been mixed together, and you’ve mixed in the manteca, and you’ve added in the water, and the dough has come together as you knead it with your hands, there’s a slight but unmistakable scent. La masa. It was the smell of wet dough that caught my attention.Continue reading “Phantom smells trigger real memories”
First Thanksgiving without mom
The plan was I’d fly in from Florida, and she’d fly in from Phoenix. We’d meet in Houston to be with my daughter and grandchildren – my mom’s granddaughter and great-grandchildren. Or maybe everyone would go to Phoenix and couch-surf at her house. We were supposed to be together. That was the point. To beContinue reading “First Thanksgiving without mom”
Mom’s red Altima
The email from the probate folks looked like just another email on the surface. It was anything but. It was a punch in the gut, informing us that yet another piece of my mom is gone. My mom’s car has been sold. With that, a piece of her identity is gone. It’s as if moreContinue reading “Mom’s red Altima”
Hija de Gloria | Gloria’s Daughter
I wasn’t ready to lose her. I wasn’t ready to exist in this world without her. She didn’t even know. She had no idea that cancer had been consuming her body or for how long. And then everything happened so fast.
Hija de Gloria | Gloria's Daughter 