A journey through the meaning of things

Speaking of taking things seriously, it’s a shame that this WSJ piece from today’s issue is available only to subscribers. A first-person piece by Katerine Rosman (who I knew slightly some years ago), it begins:

On Sept. 17, 2003, in a chaotic intensive-care ward, just before being medically induced into a coma, my mother summoned all of her energy and whatever oxygen she could to make one request: “Take care of my eBay.”

From there it goes into Rosman’s investigation of her late mother’s eBay life: the glass pieces she bought, why she bought them, the connections she made, what she hoped would happen when she was gone. I won’t recount the whole thing here, but it’s a journey, and toward the end Rosman writes: “For the first time, I was able to look at the glass as a representation of how my mom wanted me to live — not merely as a reminder of her death.”

It’s great stuff. Maybe it’ll turn up online elsewhere. Or you could always just go buy the paper.