The morning when I got the call about Dad, I was running late for work. When the phone rang and I saw it was Mom calling, I almost didn’t answer it. I figured she would leave a message that was too long; later on, I’d listen to enough of the message to get the gist of it, and I would call her back if necessary.
Feeling a stab of guilt for all the times I’d meant to call her back but didn’t, I answered. I don’t remember everything she said, but I recall the broad strokes: Dad had a heart attack; he was in the ER; they wouldn’t let her go in to see him. I got a second call later that day. Dad was dead.
I flew in from San Diego two days before the funeral. I was surprised by how much gray had crept into my mother’s hair, though I suppose I shouldn’t have been. People get old, it’s just what happens. Even mothers are not immune to the process of aging.
Zoe arrived the day after I did, coming from the opposite end of the country, her pale skin a reminder that winter had only recently given way to spring, and had done so begrudgingly. She brought her girlfriend with her, and it was the first time any of us had met Trish. I could tell Zoe was nervous when they first got to the house. We’d known about Trish since they’d started dating the previous summer, but maybe Zoe – who’d dated the same boy through all of high school and who’d married her first college boyfriend – worried how Mom would react when her girlfriend stopped being a distant fact she knew about and became a living, breathing person that she could see and talk to. Mom was kind and welcoming to Trish; Zoe seemed relieved, like she’d been holding her breath all the way from Boston and was just now able to let it out.
Trevor had promised to arrive the same day as Zoe. He was coming by car, driving down from one of those small Wisconsin towns with a Native American name. I suspect all of us went through the list of excuses Trev would pick from when he showed up late: I blew a tire, or a fan belt broke, or I lost my car keys (and it’s the funniest thing, you wouldn’t believe where I found them). Mom would smile and say that it’s all right, she knew that he tried.