Debra Lally

Cool.

I have called dozens of times for her to answer and tell me she has to go because so-and-so is visiting or that she has to go because she has plans.

So on a call catching up with Gigi, I'm telling her about our move from the woods to the city and how different it was.

I was going on and on about taking a hike and all the great pictures we took.

That's when she said, yes, Mimi always loved that the best.

and i felt like the blood drained from my body despite being a bit of a woo woo pisces i'm a professional skeptic i've had plenty of supernatural experiences but i never first assume otherworldly explanations i feel that i don't i literally work in facts so hearing mimi's name surprised me but

Hearing my very religious Gigi say the name that I had only heard in the context as an imaginary friend was bewildering.

I got chills.

My stomach did somersaults.

That's when I realized I hadn't said anything, and Gigi just continued to talk about the weather and cute old lady things.

I waited for a break in the conversation, and finally, as normal sauce as you can several minutes after moving on from a topic, I said, Who did you say likes the fall?

Who is that?

I tried not to stutter.

My mother, Mimi.

Well, she went by Mimi.

That's what we called her, she explained.

She had never talked about her mother, and in her very Tennessee way, she then went on to inform me all about Mimi's people, family background and their successful careers, football-related achievements, love of animals and the water and the woods.

You're my people.

Yeah.

I love it.