Yesterday I was looking over some quotes in my TellTale Souls material for an upcoming workshop when I came across a quote from  Joyce Carol Oates from her novel, Missing Mom, which I find apropos to encouraging folks to write mother memoir.

"last time
Last time you see someone and you don't know it will be the last time. And all that you know now, if only you'd known then. But you didn't know, and now it's too late. And you tell yourself How Could I have known, I could not have known.

You tell yourself.

This is my story of missing my mother. One day, in a way unique to you, it will be your story, too."

I also sent this quote to my friend Mary Wilkinson after reading her Red Room post today on sons - joy and grief.