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Voicemail



April 11th, 2012 3:00 P.M.

My oldest son Nico has been asking for "mama" a lot lately. Every time my phone text "tings" or the phone rings he says, "mama, mama".

I don't know how to respond to that. Sounds sad to say, but I just want his asking for "mama" to go away, but if that were to happen then so to will her memory so I'm stuck.

I play all my voicemails that I had saved on my phone for him so that when he asks for "mama" he can hear her voice from one of the messages that I played for him. Is that therapeutic or soothing for Nico? Or am I just teasing him. He doesn't offer me any clue to how he feels about the voicemails. I just hope I'm doing this right.

When I pick him up and carry him to his bedroom we pass 2 pictures of Mimie that we have displayed in the hallway. One is a family picture and the other a graduation picture of her in her cap and gown holding her diploma from Florida Atlantic University. As we pass by these pictures he quickly points to Mimie and says,"mama, mama." In all the years those pictures have been there on the wall he has never said anything to them or about them.

It puts me in tough spot but I stop, point and say,"yes, mama." I find myself trying to be the first to point her out before he does, but he seems to beat me to the punch every time. So I put the smile on my face for him and again with enthusiasm,"yes, mama."

Thankfully it doesn't seem like Nico can spot my despondency. Later tonight I am sure he'll ask for her again. I'll just pick another voicemail.




Christopher Fusaro. The author of Captain Imperfecto.

© copyright 2012. All rights reserved.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 28, 2012 at 10:25 PM

    Dont forget to record these voicemails on another type of device. Voicemails dont last forever, it can accidently be deleted like this poor father had discovered. http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/dads-voicemail-memories-daughter-deleted-15980260
    Record it in one of those picture frames that will hold your wifes picture, then they can see and talk to mommy.

    ReplyDelete

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