Hi, everyone. Welcome to Thanks for being here, a short weekly pod to remind us of the many

essential and beautiful ways we affect one another. Every Sunday, I'll read a submission from a

listener, Kelly Corrigan wonders, could be wedding vows or a bat mitzvah toast, a eulogy, or

retirement speech. We believe this is probably the loveliest way to tap into our better

selves and remember our highest values. We encourage you to share this podcast each week with

one person you love, maybe someone you miss and need to bring closer, someone you want to feel

your appreciation or admiration or both.

This is thanks for being here.

This week's thanks for being here is my eulogy for my mom.

Okay, here we go.

Here's what you'd learn, walking around the first floor of my mother's house.

She loved games, backgammon, RemyCube, Domino's.

You'd know she was a bridge champion because many wood boxes and crystal bowls would tell you what year she won which tournament.

You'd know she didn't waste money because of various stacks of paper-clipped coupons,

and you'd know that her favorite products to save on were suave body wash and rubbing alcohol.

You'd see that she read the paper and did the Sudoku and the jumble. You'd figure out that she had asthma by the inhalers in every drawer and that she liked

her nails neat by the files next to each inhaler. You would gather from her vintage pots and pans

that she did not cook much, and from the tiny

drags of Cheetos that she kept rolled and rubber-banded, that she didn't eat much.

You would find under her placemat, bills, dividend checks, bank statements.

You would see that she liked Folgers Instant, and that she kept it in the cupboard next to the

Miracle Grow, a placement that always worried me, but that I was not at liberty to change.

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