Telling Time: Before Sally and After Sally

The finale of “ER” is on tonight. How long has that show been on the air? I wondered today. Well, my mom liked the show, and she passed away 6 ½ years ago… which means it was on for a few years before that. 10 years, I estimated. (To answer the trivia question, it’s 15 years).

But it made me stop and think: Sally’s part of my everyday math. Events in my life happened pre-Sally or post-Sally. And the more years that pass, the more of Sally’s favorite things pass, too. TV shows end. Her flowered socks that I wear get holey. Photos of us smiling fade.

Stuff is just stuff, though. I’m realizing more and more that I need to forget the material items and tune into my memories. I remember “ER” and “Chicago Hope” started the same year, and my mom often debated which one she liked better. I remember she thought George Clooney was sexy and Noah Wyle had a big nose. I remember she hated that the commercials were always so much louder than the show, and she’d scowl and lower the volume so we could chat.

What quirky qualities do you remember about someone you lost?