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Scott Simon live-tweets his mother’s last moments
Last week, NPR’s Scott Simon broke conventions, and opened his private life to the public in one of the most intimate ways possible: he live-tweeted his mother’s final days on Earth.
Storified by WBEZ· Tue, Jul 30 2013 13:26:10
Last week, NPR’s Scott Simon broke conventions, and opened his private life to the public in one of the most intimate ways possible: he live-tweeted his mother’s final days on Earth.
Patricia Simon Newman Gilband passed away Monday in an intensive-care unit in a Chicago hospital.
Meanwhile on Twitter, Simon’s million-plus followers tracked her developments, read Simon’s funny and heart wrenching commentary, and watched as a mother and son said goodbye.
Here are some of those tweets, listed chronologically.
You wake up and realize: you weren’t dreaming. It happened. Cry like you couldn’t last night.Scott Simon
The heavens over Chicago have opened and Patricia Lyons Simon Newman has stepped onstage.Scott Simon
Heart rate dropping. Heart dropping.Scott Simon
I know end might be near as this is only day of my adulthood I’ve seen my mother and she hasn’t asked, “Why that shirt?”Scott Simon
The loveli cityscape at the foot of my mother’s bed: pic.twitter.com/Bu7AIfLaMsScott Simon
Mother cries Help Me at 2;30. Been holding her like a baby since. She’s asleep now. All I can do is hold on to her.Scott Simon
I love holding my mother’s hand. Haven’t held it like this since I was 9. Why did I stop? I thought it unmanly? What crap.Scott Simon
Was my mother saving this line? My family flies in. My wife & I joke about me sleeping in the ICU (“All the beeps! Can’t -Scott Simon
-you med people keep it down?“) Tell my mother I’ll see my wife downstairs, back in 10. Mother says, “Have a quickie!”Scott Simon
My mother now wakes only to be gracious. “Is Reggie or Don on-duty? They’re both such exquisite gentlemen.” (and they are)Scott Simon
Just spent 45 mins looking for mother’ favorite dental floss. Waste of time? Act of faith.Scott Simon
I just realized: she once had to let me go into the big wide world. Now I have to let her go the same way.Scott Simon
When my mother woke briefly I sang her My Best Girl. She replied w/ You Are the Sunshine of My Life. Broadway in the ICU.Scott Simon
By request, my ICU bed. Hermes orange, my mother notes. Note functional nightstand, too: pic.twitter.com/dDMQcOwbJWScott Simon
I see dawn coming in sky and want to hold it back to keep my mother from what’s ahead—to keep my mother, period.Scott Simon
Mother asks, “Will this go on forever?” She means pain, dread. “No.” She says, “But we’ll go on forever. You & me.” Yes.Scott Simon
I tell my mother, “You’ll never stop teaching me.” She said, “Well don’t blame me for everything.”Scott Simon
Mother: what time is it? Me: 6:30. Her: oh let’s raise the curtains on the city we love.Scott Simon
No real sleep tonight. But songs poems memories laughs. My mother: “Thank you God for giving us this night & each other”Scott Simon
Thanks for all good wishes. Mother says, “We can get through this, baby. The hardest part we’ll be for you when it’s over”Scott Simon
Mother can’t sleep. We listen to music, her face feels puffy, hot. We talk of much. I say “You need sleep.” “Not really.”Scott Simon
I consider this a good sign: mother sez when time comes, obit headline should be Three Jewish Husbands, But No Guilt.Scott Simon
Bought air mattress for ICU floor. Told salesperson “All I know about outdoors is I loath them.” “You looking for Bloomingdales?”Scott Simon
I am getting a life’s lesson about grace from my mother in the ICU. We never stop learning from our mothers, do we?Scott Simon
