Long periods of inactivity are unfortunately just a part of my life and career. We all have lives and obligations that take precedent over our pursuits.
For the last few months I’ve been dealing with the inevitable passing of my mother, which happened a few nights ago.
Not long ago I was settling into a new job as a lessons administrator at a guitar shop servicing the greater East LA area.
When I found out my mother’s cancer had metastasized, my partner Danielle and I fast-tracked an exhausting and dizzying move to Vermont to help my mother.
In this time we lost touch with my mother, regained contact, arrived in Vermont and took her home from the hospital. The weeks that followed were among the most difficult of my life. I have a lot of experience with death, loss, grief, even suicide. But being there for my mother as she passed away during home hospice is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
My mother was so tired of doctors and nurses that she asked that my partner and I attend to all her care ourselves.
Danielle was incredible throughout the whole thing. Her understanding of how to manage medications, assist an immobile person, communicate with the non-verbal, and her sheer vigilance was devastating and touching.
My mother was a literary scholar, a humorist, an animal lover, a secular humanist, an empathetic soul with a generous kind heart. She was also a far greater mother than I deserved.
I’m reposting the song that my mother and I collaborated on approximately 6 months ago.
I’m getting back to work this week. Now I live in Vermont again, I’ll be teaching guitar and working at Randolin Instruments in downtown Burlington, Vermont. You can use my regular contact to book lessons.
To any charitable person who wishes to make a donation in my mother’s name, I’ve decided that the Young Writer’s Project is a suitable non-profit.
https://youngwritersproject.org/support