labor day weekend, 2002

my parents were going to be in philadelphia, visiting my father's parents for the weekend. i told them i would take the train down to meet them. i wanted to bring flowers to my grandmother, but wasn't thrilled with the selection at penn station, i knew i should have bought them at any corner deli where you can buy pretty much any flower you want in the dead of winter. anywho, i decided against the flowers and made my mad-dash towards the right track. my dad met me at the station in philadelphia- so amazingly beautiful a structure, especially compared to yucky penn station. as we're walking out the door to my mom who is waiting in the car, we pass a flower stand with a beautiful display and i tell him to wait because i want to buy a bouquet for mom mom. being my dad, he of course, insists on paying for them and i say, "sure you can pay for them, but we are telling her they are from me." (i'm such a brat)

we get to my grandparents and spend the next few hours shooting the shit, walking around my pop pop's garden and drinking and eating ruffles ridges potato chips out of a napkin-lined, wicker basket. my mom mom loves the flowers and i can tell that she is touched because, even though she has a lot of visitors, not everyone brings something with them.

whenever we leave my grandparent's house, they always stand in the doorway and watch through the storm door as we walk down the driveway to the car. this is a picture that is burned into my mind as it happened so often. they would wave and smile at us, staying in the doorway until we drove off. this time was no different, as we walked down the driveway, my mom mom opened the storm door and yelled "thank you for my flowers!" i can still hear her voice ringing in my ears.

this is the last thing she ever said to me. in november of that year, she fell into a coma after a bout with pneumonia and we were all there with her as she passed away. this is a time, i can't even write about, because i cannot possibly describe how it felt to watch someone you had loved your whole life, enter an entirely new world without taking you along with her.

i'm so grateful for that trip, little did i know it would be my last time seeing her and i'm so grateful for those flowers. it just taught me that, sometimes, even the smallest gestures are something you will remember for the rest of your life.