Jim Olson – January 29, 2023

It was inevitable that mom would eventually come against a wall equal to her considerable grit.  It came at the age of 97 when her grit remained true, but the wall of time proved the obstacle.   It was serendipitous that mom soon found, not to her discomfort, that the wall was really just another door.

Mom at the door.   Seeing her there was a familiar sight for us kids, and that in itself could only be comforting.   

Familiar and comforting to anyone really who visited mom the last 25 years since my dad passed. It seemed that an old tradition had awakened in her. Soon after his passing, no matter how the goodbyes went at the end of every visit to her home we would find her standing at the front door, usually bathed in the soft porch light, with a warm comfortable wave as we backed out of the driveway.

It did not occur to me immediately that I had seen this loving connection before, and it made me smile broadly; filling my heart like only good memories can when I recalled the first time I had seen this from my childhood.

A week did not go by without our car full of siblings making at least one visit to my grandparent’s home in the West End of Duluth in the 60’s and 70’s, and those were happy memories, literally Norman Rockwell-esque in living color.  My dad would park in the alley behind the tight rows of houses there, and after our time had run out, we would race through the small back yard and pile into the car to head home.  We would settle into our seats and then, there, at the back door of the house, would be my mom’s mom.  We had exhaustively said our goodbyes, but there she would be, watching us intently; and then with her warm smile and comfortable wave, she would release us.  I cannot speak for my siblings, but I grew to wait for that moment, and remember the smile and my hard wave back to her that seemed to seal the visit.

Mom at the door, all these years later, and for many of those years taken for granted, has come back to a much-valued place in my heart.  I will miss her mightily and will most painfully miss her at the door.  But with strong faith she has moved through that last door to heaven’s gate, and there I see her, watching us intently, with gentle smile and a comfortable wave, sealing the loving and long visit of life.