SLICE #5: I really miss my mom...

 

I'm going to the theater tonight. 

Hamilton.

Need I say more?

Actually I do want to say a little more. 

I'm going to the theater tonight.

It's the first time I have gone since COVID.

Even more than that, 

it's the first time I have gone since my mom died in December.

My mom, who was 87, loved the theater. 

For many years, she and I bought season tickets. 

About once every six weeks, I would drive to Colorado Springs and pick her up.

We'd come back to Denver, 

have lunch at a little restaurant close to the theater, 

go to the show,

and then drive back to Colorado Springs. 

Or sometimes we'd go to the theater at night. 

Those times I would drive down and get her,

we'd check into a hotel (my house has too many stairs),

go to dinner, and go to the theater,  

spend the night in Denver, 

eat breakfast the next morning,

and head back to Colorado Springs. 

The trips were pretty exhausting. 

getting the wheelchair in and out of the car a zillion times, 

pushing her through the parking garage, 

in and out of crowded elevators,

and helping her transfer to regular chairs in restaurants and at the theater,

(she never wanted anyone to think she needed a wheelchair)

but I loved, loved, loved 

going to the theater with my mom

and now she's gone.

Tonight, I'm going to the theater by myself.

I'm looking forward to seeing Hamilton again

(my mom and I saw it four or five years ago)

but I think it's going to be a little hard.

I really miss my mom...