On Mother's Day
It's Mother's Day again. I never really made a fuss over it, in the same way that any enforced gift-buying day could pass me by. Christine was uncomfortable around the day; her own mother died (of ovarian cancer) around this season, and it held those memories. Nonetheless, she'd get a hand-drawn card or letter from Tess, and tea and breakfast in bed from me. But generally, the day would leave me as it came - quietly and without fuss. Today is different. There's a big Christine-shaped gap in our lives, and those of you who truly knew her will understand that the chasm is hard to fill.
Today is different. I am off to the Davis Whole Earth Festival; a gathering of hippies at the university, to celebrate overpriced handmade jewellery, organic clothes and garish tie-dye. Normally I eschew such events, but today I have a Purpose, and will brave the heat, the barely-clad and the dawdlers to man the…