Epistolary Requiem

Hey Mom,

You won’t believe what

I did today...

Remember that pumpkin

pie you made,

how many years ago

now,

that you forgot to put

the sugar in

and fed me a piece anyway

to see my reaction,

and then, together, we waited,

laughing until

sister got home and we

made her try a piece

and then she swore

and all three of us laughed?

Anyway, I made my first apple pie

in forever today because

Thanksgiving is just a few

weeks away

and it’s been so many years

that I haven’t been making

him apple pies because

of that one thing he said

back on ‘02...

Or was it ‘03?

So, I made the pie

and it looked really

pretty—topped with

a dough cutout of

an apple, fiddly work

you always eschewed—but

I forgot to add the butter!

It is as dry as that box of dust

sitting in my study

on that shelf

with my favorite childhood

books.

What on earth

was I thinking?

I wish you were here

so I could have

fed you a piece

without telling you

first.

We would have laughed.