In the Ottawa Citizen today:
My mother’s last lucid moment was also one of the most telling, even though at the time I had no idea what it meant. As she lay in hospital, drifting into what my brother and I knew were her final moments, she suddenly looked up and said: “I don’t care about all this. The two of you make everything worthwhile.”
How was that possible, I wondered. How could dying at the age of 51 make up for having raised a pair of honest boys? I knew little of real life then, preferring in a selfish unmarried way to focus on my career and the dream of owning a BMW.
I still have that fantasy, but the financial crisis means it will stay locked in my imagination rather than turning up in Santa’s sack. I must look for consolations elsewhere in these bad, sad days.
The Planned Parenthood of Indiana website says the gift cards can be used for “services or the recipient’s choice of birth control method,” and poses the question “Why not buy a loved one a gift this holiday season that they really need”?