How many grains of salt do you have to add to make a difference?
I suppose it depends on what it is you’re salting. An ocean? A pot of soup? A chemistry experiment that’s only viewable with an electron microscope?
How many words do you have to write to make a difference?
i suppose it depends on what you’re writing. A novel? A short story? A flash? A haiku? A tombstone?
How many memories to you have to add to make her life meaningful?
I suppose it depends on who you’re trying to convince. A lifetime of “I know what she said”s, but “I think this is what she meant”? A few anecdotes of a loving mother before she started telling her lies? That one time (only the one?) when she made you cringe, but you knew you loved her in spite of it? The moment she was soiling herself in Kroger’s and then stopped to show you which Oreos’s she liked, and watched her lose any shred of dignity she had left while you scoured the store for fresh pads and clean shorts.
They didn’t have any and we wrapped some garbage bags around her, held our heads high, got her some safe, and convinced her she couldn’t live alone any more.
How many sleeps until the first anniversary of her death? Six. And on that day, I’ll honor her with a new tattoo. A smiley face (because we all smiled through the goods and bads she regaled us with), using two new liver spots I inherited from her as eyes.
How many grains of salt does it take to make a salty old broad?
However many it was, you made a difference Mom.