It is! It totally IS! Music From The Big Pink. VINYL. Totally in here. Unreal!

Of course, we don't have a record player. You think we got a recorder player in these houses? Really? Come on. No way. But I did just download it on iTunes and it's totally awesome. Nell's really liking the painting on the album cover. I like to think she likes the elephant. I like the elephant. I like to think that Mom likes to think the guy on the ground holding the other guy over the piano is the best part. It's the goofiest part. And, in going through her stuff, I'm beginning to appreciate Mom's goofiness.

I'm halfway through the third box. The pace of this process has been the topic of conversation, as of late, around the Henrickson campfire...at least between Bill and me. I kinda went on a tear there in the beginning and didn't get to bed 'til five in the morning that first night, going through boxes one and two...the two biggest ones by far. That kinda got Bill's goat...whatever that expression is or means. He pouted about that for a good little while, is what I'm trying to say...starting from when my head hit the pillow at 5:08 til after dinner that night. We did end up talking about it a little and then I — note: I — decided to pull the throttle back a tad bit¹. So I've been going slowly through box number three. Taking my time. It's still big, but it's nowhere near the behemoths one and two were. Number one was sort of a nonstarter, though, because a big chunk of it was another box, a separate box, filled with papers and legal stuff. So, that's obviously important, but also obviously lame. Bill said he'd ask Lee to look over that stuff so we'll see what comes of it, but that's not the kind of stuff I was excited about, so...

I'll do a few highlights to catch y'all up, then I'll talk about today's. I guess that'll be the de facto² procedure for a little while. I mean, I'm gonna grab a few things a day, but I probably won't write every day. I'd love to and, like I said, I really do believe it's good for me. But I just don't have the time, you know? Mama-in's hard, you know? Anyway, highlights:

1. A fake trillion-dollar bill with Monica Lewinsky's face on it. So random.
2. A Cuban cigar...not a joke connected to the Lewinski bill that I know of, but...it's always a possibility, I guess.
3. Her (I'm assuming!) toothbrush! I thought it was a hilarious Mr. Wallace decided to include this. He put it in a ziplock bag with "toothbrush" written on it in Sharpie. His handwriting, by the way. Turns out, Wally (that's what he asked me to call him) was Mom's friend/building manager for a couple years in her last apartment. So...that's kinda cool. He's a really nice guy from one of the Carolinas. He says, "ma'am." I've called him a few times since I go the boxes. I like chatting with him.
4. A ".38 special" bullet. Mom was pretty hardcore, huh?
5. My old Garfield pillowcase from fourth grade. Why she kept that, I don't know. But I'm happy she did.
6. An Outback Steakhouse "Free Bloomin' Onion" coupon from 1997.
7. A plastic bride and groom from an unknown wedding cake.

And today's. Today's are kinda...sad...but that's OK. There's nothing wrong with that. The stuff inside these boxes can make me cry and smile at the same time. I respect that. But I can't get mad when it's just one or the other. I've done a lot of laughing, with no tears...much more than the other way around. So, I'm due, but today's kind of a bummer. The first thing was a piece of mail. Mail inside mail...already boring. Then the sad: It was a court summons for a pre-trial something for a DUI. That's sad for obvious reasons.

The other thing, though, was...well, it's probably just as obviously sad, but...it was her journal. She never had an email address so I doubt she ever would have taken to blogging. But she made a stab at keeping this journal. I say "journal," well, because the notebook itself has the word imprinted in gold cursive on it...but what I'm saying is it's not a diary. A girl has a diary. This was from the recent past. In fact, the first entry was dated only about 8 months before she died:

"I should be doing more. I want to do. There's a lot of stuff I want to say I've done. To get there, I have to do. I want to have had a journal at some point. So, I got this at the airport gift shop when I was waiting to pick up Carl. It has the word 'journal' written on the cover in cursive so if I don't write in it, that word will stare at me and guilt me into writing at least something when I can. 'It's still snowing.' Or: 'I didn't win the lottery again.' Something. That's the goal. To keep some kinda track of me. We'll see..."³

That was the only entry. How sad is that...

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¹Definitely don't wanna make Billy Boy sound like a jerk here. He totally wasn't. Let me clarify: he one-hundred-percent gets me wanting to wade through all of Mom's stuff. He was just a little grumpy because he didn't wanna sleep alone...which I obviously "get" — I get that way about 2/3's of the time if I'm not careful. It was more of a little game we were playing than really anything. But it did get me thinking that I could have a pretty cool opportunity here. At first I wanted to, or thought I wanted to, just get it all out on the floor as quickly as possible like I did (and still kinda do) on Christmas morning. (If I could put a footnote inside a footnote, I'd do it now to say that I was watching '30 Rock' the other night which I always do because it's funny as all get out. Anyway, I'm watching '30 Rock' and they kinda nabbed my story about being so excited about a getting a present that you throw up. I think we all know I vomited immediately upon seeing that Santa had given me a Sega as a kid. "OH, SEGA!" Vomit. I was wearing blue pajamas with footies. In the show, as a kid, Jack did that, too...sure they changed it to a birthday party and the toy was a spaceship or something, but that that happened to me, for real. I mean, no hard feelings. They did a great job with it. That's an awesome show. But that story happened to me. I wonder if they're bugging my phone...) Back to original footnote: That first night, I wanted to open 'em up fast as heck. But I've slept on it and now that's not happening. I'm going slow and enjoying it. My method is basic...like...closing my eyes and grabbing two things a day out of the box that's already been opened. This is all I got from her, you know? I think it's kinda cool to try to extend it. It's like a super-personal one of those calendars that you tear a page off each day and it gives a cool inspirational message. AND! It's also kinda like the note your mom wrote on a napkin and put in your lunch bag that said "I love you" or "Try your best today." I imagine those feel pretty good. Mom never did that...she was much more of a "lunch money" mom...but she's making up for it now so I'm letting it go.

²Word of the day email. Do it: http://www.merriam-webster.com/word/subscribe.htm

³There's something enjoyable about typing out words she wrote...even if it's a sad thing I'm copying. If I get the chance, I might try to...transcribe again. It feels kinda cool. It's like a Ouija board type situation...it's cool.