First, thanks so much to everyone who came out on Sunday to the west coast memorial for Mom, and especially to Alison Tassie for organizing and hosting. I'd never been to the Exit Theatre before but as soon as I walked in I thought, "oh yeah. this is her."
It was great to meet new faces and hear virtual strangers (among some very familiar faces) talk so poignantly about Mom and how much she impacted their lives. Her reach was great - we knew this. But Jenn and I were talking today, and we realized it's actually comforting to know that we're not the only ones walking around right now, wondering how the world is still in fact spinning.
So, among the guests on Sunday was a family that we have known for a very long time. The Arntsons lived down the street from us on Harmony Place for many years, and when we moved in Lenore (the mama) and our Mom became fast friends. They maintained their close friendship through many life changes, and before Mom moved to New York she asked Lenore & Dick to keep some of her boxes at their house in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo. They not only drove up to the memorial on Sunday (along with their daughter Shawna and her husband Don) but also brought six of Mom's boxes with them, to give to us.
Jennifer and I spent most of the day and night yesterday going through everything. We missed having Clancy here for that, especially since we ran across tons of our writings, artwork, photos, etc. that of course Mom kept for all these years. But we're saving stuff for him! Even more interesting than all of our stuff was the huge pile of letters we found. Mom was really close to her Grandma Ward (the original one!) and wrote her many many MANY letters over the years. When her Grandma Ward passed away, Mom apparently retrieved all of those letters from G'ma Ward's house and has kept them with her ever since. It was pretty great stuff and really made us feel more connected to her in a powerful way. She wrote letters from Pasadena, from Hollywood, from New York in the '60s, from Newport in the '50s, and it seemed like she felt a freedom to really be herself in those letters, no matter what. Pretty great.
So now we have lots more pictures of Mom, but having so much of her writing in our grubby little hands is just a gift we never anticipated. Don't get me wrong though - I love pictures! Attached is a picture of a picture - we're guessing it's from 1959 or 1960 and we love it! Dig the fish dress.
Also, for those who haven't yet heard, the official occupation listed on the Death Certificate: poet.