The List

THE LIST

John just found
a small pad of paper
with my mother’s handwriting
still beautiful
but shaky.

With a list of 13 dates
written out from May 22 to June 3.

A little calendar of things she’s got
planned and what
she’s looking forward to.

On May 22 it says Make Buns
and on May 23 it says Make Chicken Soup.

Smaller expectations from previous calendars I know.

On May 24 it says Sort Books in Shed
which makes me sad because it’s one of the
projects that she really wanted to do when I was here last
but I was trying to keep up with my email from work
and so we didn’t.

The Books are her boxes of children’s books
that she wanted to look through and pick out
her favourite ones for me
in case I ever get around to having kids.
So that I will have them to read with them.

On her last night I asked her to tell me
which ones were her favourites
so that I can find them on my own.
She took a long time to answer and I’m not
sure if The Cat Box means that
there is a book called The Cat Box or
if there is a box of books about cats.

It’s May 31 today and she's already gone so
the pedicure she was scheduled to have
on June 3 will have to be cancelled.

It’s a sign of a good life when you still
have things you are
looking forward to doing even if you don’t ever get to do them.

-Leah Costello