Red Room Where the Writers Are

Maxine Hong Kingston’s 2003 book The Fifth Book of Peace is full of wondrous things—a partial re-creation of the book she famously lost, in its entirety, in the Oak

1. Yesterday, when no one was watching, Mom ate part of a letter my sister wrote to her. Alzheimer’s is sad—but also funny. So: ha ha.

For most of the  past week my mother sat on the front porch in a rocker and stared out at her beloved ocean.  She said "beautiful" a lot.  Last year's word was "gorgeous." 

McLean's magazine (www.macleans.ca, May 14, 2008) recently featured an article by Kate Fillion about Jill Price, a woman with a memory that "walks right beside" her.

What do you do when you lose your best friend? How do you handle it when your mother dies?