Here’s an audio file of my Mother’s Day essay that aired on Interlochen Public Radio on May 10. It doesn’t include the host introduction that sets it up, so here’s that part (cue radio voice):
When Audrey Henderson Noga was born last September, she got her
great-grandmother’s red hair, her dad’s blue eyes, and her mother’s last
name. Audrey’s mother, Traverse City writer Cari Noga, tells us more.
My paternal grandma died Thursday at the age of 90. At my mom’s request, I just wrote her obituary. Very strange feeling to use the past tense about her. Also to realize how little I knew about her. She and my grandpa did the snowbird thing from the time I was pretty young, and were living full-time in Florida by the time I was 13, so I didn’t know her well.
My best memories of her were of the genuine, from-scratch coconut cakes she made for my birthday. It was an all-day project, grating the coconuts and inserting toothpicks to hold the fragile layers together. Then you always had to be careful to take out the toothpicks before taking a bite.
She was my last living grandparent, so losing her makes me feel old. Now my brother is also my only biological connection to my dad. I know that technically our kids are, but it doesn’t feel that way, maybe because they were born after he died. All in all, the last few days I’ve just had a wierd feeling of NOT feeling much emotionally, yet still aware I’m impacted.
Today I recorded my audio essay on our dual last names for Interlochen Public Radio. I really worked on sounding truthful notes in it and am pretty proud of it. It’s to air in connection with Mother’s Day. I’ll post a link, but what I really look forward to is O. and A. listening to it some day.