Dead Mom Talking
"If you want to talk to me when I'm dead, go to the bench."
Best New Artist2016 Third Coast/Richard H. Driehaus Competition2016 / Rachel Matlow / CBC Radio One , CAN

"If you want to talk to me when I'm dead, go to the bench."
Elaine Mitchell said those words to her daughter Rachel a few days before she died last July. Her memorial bench now sits in a Toronto ravine under tall trees. Elaine was a teacher, writer and avid traveler. During the last seven weeks of her life she and Rachel binge-watched TV, traded dark humor, and they talked. Rachel recorded the conversations. That way, months after Elaine’s death, Rachel was able to get in one more conversation with the person she needed most.
produced by

Rachel (they/them) is a freelance audio producer, story editor, and writer from Toronto.
Featured in
May we recommend…
-
Arthur and Eleanor
1987 / 05:28
Eleanor needs a family -- but the only family she had, her ex-husband Arthur, doesn't really need her anymore.
-
Not This Again
2020 / 22:47
Angelina was a journalist living in Brooklyn when she was diagnosed with ALS.
-
The Living Room
2015 / 22:22
Diane's new neighbors never shut their curtains, and that was the beginning of an intimate, but very one-sided relationship.