i got an email

from an old friend

the other day…

at the end she 

mentioned that she

attached a 

photo that she’d

found while cleaning

her house.

it was a photo of

liz

and me in college.

(i would attach it here, but it’s a pretty awful photo of me).

i showed the photo

to maddy. 

“who’s that guy with mommy?”

i was blown away. 

yes, it’s true that

i’m almost unrecognizable

in the photo, 

and that

liz

didn’t look that different

between the ages of 

19 & 30,

but i found it

amazing that madeline

would recognize her

mother in a photo

taken 13 or 14

years ago, 

yet not recognize me.

“maddy, that’s me.”

“no it’s not!

“yes, maddy, that’s me in the photo.”

“no it’s not!”

this went on

for a few more minutes

before i gave up. 

there was 

no way i was

going to convince her.

…

usually when she

talks about her mom

i get sad. 

but this time

i was smiling. 

i couldn’t help but

think that all of 

the people

in her life have done

such a great job

of keeping her mother’s

memory alive.

and that’s pretty amazing.