Your sisters and I went had our annual play and dinner birthday celebration today. We went to Chelsea to the Purple Rose. We saw Steel Magnolias. Rememer when you first got sick and I said I was never watching that fucking movie again, even though it was one of my all time favorites? And then you kept watching it every time it came on t.v. Well, we thought that it was quite a coincidence that the cast at the Purple Rose was performing THAT play just when we would be celebrating our birthdays. And we all agreed that we probably had to go. So we did.
The first really hard thing for me was at intermission when we asked an usher to take our picture, like we always did. She took about five shots before she got one of me smiling because I was trying not to cry. You were not going to be in the picture with us for the first time since we started this tradition. The play was so well done, the dialog true to the movie. We all cried. A lot. We shopped a little and had dinner at the Common Grill. And we talked about you. We laughed and cried some more and were glad that we carried on with our treasured tradition even though it was bittersweet. I feel sure that you chose the play for us, and you were there crying and laughing right along with us.
Love, Mom
