bye mervyn

oddly sad about the death of mervyn's

I’m uncharacteristically sad about the demise of Mervyn’s. I’ve always liked the store, their sales, and their Hillard and Hansen label provided pants that seemed to be cut perfectly for my good Danish ass. But that’s not why I’m feeling sentimental.

It was at Mervyn’s, among the sale sleepwear, that I had my last profound conversation with my mother. I don’t want to share the details, but we talked about health and death and fears and plans. It was a really good conversation and, when she died less than two months later, I felt like our talk offered a tiny glimmer of order or meaning to the otherwise nutso tilt-a-whirl my life became for a while.

Once the doors to Mervyn’s close permanently, I suppose Mom’s ghost will wander next door to Tuesday Morning, which was, in actuality, her favorite store.

4 Comments

  1. cloudy on November 19, 2008 at 11:23 am

    This post gave me chills, only because Mervyn’s holds a very similar meaning for me. We don’t have them in Washington, but whenever I went home to CA, My Mom would take me shopping there, including two months before she died. I wish we had that profound conversation.



  2. regina on November 19, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    No words from me… Just feelings. Much love and big hugs to you.



  3. linda on November 19, 2008 at 9:25 pm

    I wasn’t crazy about Mervyn’s because everything in the store seemed to be navy blue and brown, but I love this post.



  4. t-love-pdx on November 20, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    farewell mervyns. thanks for sharing about your mom. big hugs from portland.