I Am An Estate Agent - Tying Up Loose Ends

Life is full of little deaths - small losses that when looked at on a to-do list, don't look like a big deal - but when implemented, feel like a punch in the stomach!

Today I disconnected my mother's telephone line.  Over the years this phone number has been the one constant connection between the Rinaldi family and the rest of the world.  It was issued to us when we moved to Hawthorne, CA from Kent, OH in 1955.  Years past and as we children grew up and went our own way, we could still be found by old friends calling 310-643-9411. My mother would answer the phone and tell them how to get in touch with us.  "You will never guess who called today!" she would say.  Voices from the past would say, "I just took a chance that this number was still good and I am so glad that you are still there!"

Every night when Jay and I would sit down in the living room to relax after dinner, maybe with the News Hour on TV or a good book in his hands and my knitting in mine, I would reach for the phone and speed dial 310-643-9411 for my daily phone call with my mother.  She expected the call, she waited for it, and when the phone rang, my sister Cathy would call out to her..."There's Pat!"  We would talk about the day, what she had done, what I had done, was there anything she needed. It was one of the periods to the sentence of my day.

I am busy these days tying up the loose ends of my mother's life.  I have had her phone number forwarded to my phone so I could see if anyone was still using the number; but after 2 weeks of callers asking if we wanted the carpets cleaned or offering to lower the interest rate on any credit cards, my brother and I decided to save the money and disconnect the line.

Now when you dial 310-643-9411 you will hear a recording telling you... "The number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service."  The phone line is gone.  My mother is gone.