I think it's great that there are events like this to bring people together. I'm sure Mom and I will find some other events in the days to come.
Update: October 15, 2022
I wrote this post more than four years ago in 2018. It was a couple of years before the COVID summer of 2020. Mom was in the early stages of dementia which meant that she could not drive anymore or be trusted to go off on her own, but she was able to go out to lunch, enjoy a drive, and shop a bit too. I revisited this post to remember Mom's story and the last days I enjoyed her company beyond her home. That summer I tried to bring her to events that she would enjoy. We went to lunch at Salem Crofts Inn too with my cousin Christine and drove by many of her childhood places of significance. She and Dad traveled up to our family reunion in New Hampshire too--they stayed in a tiny room on the first floor of the old farmhouse because it was the most accessible room in the home. We shopped a bit that summer too--she bought a few beautiful dresses at Talbots that she continued to wear throughout her final years.