In memory of Maggie

2/3/10 Two claim checks, recycled

Joanna's mother passed away eight years ago today, on February 3, 2002.

It is one of the great fortunes of my life that I was able to get to know her before her battle with cancer ended. Although Joanna and I weren't yet married, I like to think she knew we were headed down that road.

Joanna likes to say that people live on through the good works they do and the people they influence.

Well, Maggie gave us Joanna and her sister Amanda and, by extension, little Chase. That's about as big an impact that anyone can have on my life, so I'd say Maggie is still with us, in a very big way.

We also know that people live on through the possessions they leave behind. Our house has many special reminders of Maggie, from furniture and crystal to paintings and movies. (She had impeccable taste in films. Rest assured, our VHS copies of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Psycho, and Giant will NOT be getting downsized.)

A few years ago, we also discovered two claim tickets among her belongings. One was for Marco Jewelers and the other for Mr. C's Fix-Up Shop, two Stamford, CT, establishments where Joanna says Maggie was loved as a customer.

I had this romantic notion that we might be able to call up with the claim check number and discover that some other physical reminder of Maggie had been sitting in the back room of a shop for the last eight years. A necklace she took in for cleaning or a lamp that needed to be re-wired.

I worked up the courage to call both businesses this week, and although the proprietors where tremendously understanding and helpful, there were no secret items to be discovered. Most likely, Maggie picked up whatever she had dropped off long ago, and just never threw out the claim check. These claim checks weren't tickets to long-lost items, they were just little slips of papers that had once passed through Maggie's hands.

I was momentarily disappointed, since I thought it would be pretty special to uncover another connection to Maggie, like a message sent to us years after her passing.

And then I realized that she's already given us all we could ask for: Joanna, Amanda, and Chase. What stronger message could the world receive than the gifts these three bring to us daily?

Thank you, Maggie, for living on so beautifully.