My mom spent more time than anybody I know reading through magazines and newspapers.
Inevitably, you could find a month's worth of papers stacked up somewhere in the living room that she was planning to get to sometime down the road.
She always kept a pen (usually perfumy purple ones that Dad had brought home from his job), notebook and scissors next to her while she went through them. She would clip out recipes or household hints that she wanted to file away. The pen and notebook were for her endless lists and notes to herself about gift ideas, shopping lists or dinner party menu plans.
If I thought she had a lot of clippings to begin with, that was nothing compared to what she printed once she discovered the Internet.
This was one of the last stacks of such clippings and printings that I went through from the kitchen a couple of weeks ago. While most of it was recipes that are easily found online or other things that were of interest to just her, I found it a little hard to get rid of it all.
I guess because the fact is that even after two and half years, it still seems like it was just yesterday.
And even though these are just papers and old newspapers, it struck me that this was her.
This was how she spent a lot of her time.
This was where she found most of her inspiration.
And this was where she wrote down her thoughts.
That someday, I would find and remember her.
Sitting in her chair, feet up, one of the cats at her feet. Purple pen, notebook and scissors by her side.
