Telephone of the Wind

Mom and me, six months before her death.

My mom passed away on this date in 2020, the first year of the Pandemic. She was 90 years old. I couldn’t be with her, but I was there in spirit (via Zoom). I wanted so much more.

There are moments, many of them, when I want my mom's presence, up close and in person. I want to listen once again to her long-ago songs, sweet lullabies, see her smile, enjoy her warm hugs. I want the lipstick kisses and the Jungle Gardenia perfume and the soft, nubbly feel of her red wool dress on my cheek as she embraced me before going out on the town for the evening. I want those early mornings with her as she read the newspaper on the living room floor, with me by her side, pretending to read but just really enjoying her company, and the aroma wafting up from her coffee cup. And I want her encouragement to be creative and free, a gift she gave me as I matured into adulthood, beyond childhood.

My Wind Phone.

Recently, I found a way to reconnect with "Mumsy"...I made my own "Telephone of the Wind." After reading about the original phone, created in Japan after the 2011 tsunami, I bought and decorated my own. I use it whenever I want to reach out and call her, and tell her things she'd want to hear about my life. But you can look up and locate the wind phones people have placed in their communities, and experience for yourself the immense joy of reconnecting with loved ones who have gone.