'And how moisturizing while grieving helped more than I could've imagined.'
My mother and I never took many pictures together, something that never seemed urgent to me until she died. At that point, ravenous for totems of our intimacy, I regretted it. Thankfully, there are a few stray shots here and there, including the one that is my favorite that you see above: a cameo of Mom snapped in the last weeks of her life where I am also present, albeit accidentally. It is, I believe, the last photo taken of her.
The platitudes urging us to cherish one another while we can are easy enough to disregard while life remains reassuringly static. Though I had known Mom was dying for almost two months, my mind, unwilling to contend with her imminent absence, had fixated on an alchemy of optimism and denial. I was only now confronting the finite terms of earthbound relationships: one person will always depart before the other.
This is, I admit, not a unique motivation for investing in masks, face creams, and serums. In fact, many skin-care products promise to freeze you in time—or try to, anyway—with the added bonuses of brightening and smoothing wrinkles into tautness. My newfound interest is in many ways uncomplicated: routine is soothing in chaotic times.
Then, on a whim, I changed my mind—the terrain of mourning is vast, unpredictable, and somewhat inclined to obsessions; suddenly, you might decide that a ritual or author or exercise will be your deliverance. One of my care packages contained a promise of this sort: a set of REN skin-care products—two cleansers and a mask—gifted from kind friend who explained that she had navigated grief, in part, with some productive pampering.
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