Mom at Easter

The Hibiscus I sent for Mother's Day last year is blooming again


Mom has painful arthritis in the knees, but it's inspiring to see her pottering around the garden.

"I looked all over the property," she declared Saturday morning, "but it looks like this will be the first year ever we have no flowers for Easter."

But nature came through. Saturday afternoon, Mom and Brenna found crocuses blooming below the sun-warmed patio.

She changes the subject whenever I mention the G and L words. I've dropped hints about Danny, but my parents won't bite.

Yesterday it hit me: the worst thing about explaining polyamory to my mother would not be her direct reaction; it would be the things said behind my back. I shouldn't try to share my personal life with her anymore. Anyway, she doesn't want to know.

Moe rode down with us and spent the weekend with her family in Detroit. Her father is in hospital with heart problems, on the verge of kidney failure. She doesn't get along with him, but isn't ready for him to die.

It reminded me Mom and I have gotten along better since her breast cancer, 2002. But there's no going back to the friendship we had the first 31 years of my life.

( crocuses )