My Mother In Law's Last Earrings

She was 90 when she willed herself dead, committing herself to hospice and then ceasing to breathe three days later. Her only daughter had already chosen the diamond pendant and the gold earrings. I went through boxes that had already been stacked for give-away and found the remaining earrings in their original packaging, labeled “ sterling silver” or “ silver with onyx.” Like the silver service her son inherited, the pieces were tarnished, which surprised me since she was so meticulous in scrubbing her kitchen down with ammonia after each meal.

I picked four or five pair, including a pair of floral Laurel Burch enamel drops that we picked out at Macy’s for one holiday or another and mailed to Phoenix, before she announced she did not want one more pair. It was hard to find her gifts after that, but we picked out opera CDS and coffee table books of impressionist part.

Within the year, I had lost the halves of these two pair.

Marti Keller, © September 2005

Photograph by Doug Geenberg
© 2005