Never A Cross Word: A Remembrance

Throughout life, we meet many people, and make many friends. But we only get one first, best friend. And if you’re lucky, that person is your mom.

I was that lucky.

If we shared one thing in common, she and I, it was a love of words. At the age of 12, as I lay in my hospital bed recovering from surgery, Mom slept by my bedside every night. By day, she and I would play word games, and do her beloved New York Times crossword puzzles together. She taught me all the tricks to cracking even the trickiest clues, and happily watched as I learned to arrive at the answers I’m sure she already knew.

As I grew older, I got better at solving even the more difficult puzzles. I remember now how we’d commiserate — the beginning of the week was always easy, but come the weekend, the clues were tougher and sometimes, even impossible to solve. Just a few short weeks ago, this time as I sat by her hospital bed, I began to do what’s normally a pretty tough Friday puzzle, which I’d brought to pass the time. I filled in a few squares, then some more, until eventually (to my utter shock) I’d finished the whole thing.

We were the only two in the room, and as she slept I leaned close and whispered in her ear.

“You brought me luck.”

I didn’t mean just that day.

I meant always.

 

 

~ With love and gratitude, to my good luck charm, now and forever. ~