today
11 a.m. Garberville Farmers' Market Garberville Town Square
read >noon Redwood Art Association Summer Exhibition Redwood Art Association Gallery
read >3 p.m. Wildrivers 101 Film Festival Various Locations
read >4 p.m. Live Acoustic Music Has Beans
read >5:30 p.m. Redwood Equine Partners Free Demo Day Redwood Equine Partners
read >6 p.m. Matthew Cook Cher-Ae-Heights Casino
read >6 p.m. The Tumbleweeds Chapala Cafe
read >6 p.m. Trinidad Jazz Project Larrupin Cafe
read >6 p.m. Kathe Lyth Libation
read >6:30 p.m. Discovery Museum Family Fun Night Discovery Museum
read >7 p.m. Live local music Fieldbrook Market
read >7 p.m. Sound Wall Grand Opening Mosgo's
read >7 p.m. Benbow Summer Jazz Series: Wayne Wallace Latin Quintet Benbow Inn
read >8 p.m. Humboldt Folkdancers Arcata Presbyterian Church
read >8 p.m. Clint Warner Gilded Rose
read >8 p.m. Godspell Ferndale Repertory Theater
read >8 p.m. Redwood Raks Dance Party Fundraiser Redwood Raks World Dance Studio
read >8 p.m. Passion Presents: Zepparella The Red Fox Tavern
read >8 p.m. Scatter the Mud Cafe Mokka
read >9 p.m. Swingin' Country Band WAVE @ blue lake casino
read >9 p.m. Original Dance Mixes with DJ Ray The Boiler Room
read >9 p.m. DJ Itchie Fingaz Pearl Lounge
read >9 p.m. Woven Roots Jambalaya
read >9 p.m. UKEsperience Muddy's Hot Cup
read >9 p.m. Karaoke with DJ Marv Jan's Pub
read >9:30 p.m. Live DJ Ragg's Rack Room
read >10 p.m. Music by DJ Sidelines
read >10 p.m. Fickle Hill Billies Humboldt Brews
read >previous columns
April 10, 2008
Whispers
I was too young to know him well as a ...
read >April 3, 2008
Growing Tomatoes in the North Woods
Every spring I gather the plants like a hen hovering ...
read >March 27, 2008
Winter comes to an end
The hot sun rays Reminding us of peaches, lettuce, watermelon ...
read >
NOTHING IN LIFE
By Mark Shikuma
Nothing in life prepares you for this. She asks for help, to get out of her bed. The mattress is now too high, inconvenient, an obstacle; the bones in her back are crumbling. Pain shoots upwards; nerves are pinched. You see this on her face. You pretend not to take too much notice that she has aged, greatly. (Slow, unsteady movements, back bent over, thinning gray hair, dark spots on her lined skin.) She grips onto your arm with her small hand, leaning her body into yours, as you both walk across the hall and onto the tile and bright light of the bathroom. She cannot sit on the toilet seat without discomfort, effort, trouble. You partially close the bathroom door. In that instant, you see her sigh, not of relief, but of exhaustion. You smile at her. It is 3:35 a.m. "Call me, when you're done," you say, waiting in the hall.
Later that morning, she tells you the injections of cement into the lower blades of her back does no good. "No help," she says. You suggest alternatives, like acupuncture. "I'm so tired," she replies, with a stern resignation. "Sick and tired." And you know this woman is looking at you, with a truth. This woman who sees a light fading. This woman who is your mother.
No comments for this entry
post a comment
You must login to comment this entry