Susan Palmer's Exquisite Now

It’s not quite a year since my mother passed. She was such a gift. If I started to talk about her, we’d be here all day. But here are two things.

That photo above? I snapped it in January 2024 when I visited her. She lived in southern Alberta and that particular week, the temperature had dropped into serious minus zones. That day it hit minus 30 F.

She was 97. And wanted to check it out. I’d driven up from my home in Oregon and had my emergency gear in the van, including a down sleeping bag. I bundled her up and took her out. I lasted almost two minutes. She was laughing when I took her back inside.

Second thing: The week before she died, she organized a luncheon with her two best friends.