This lovely memorial is by Diane D’Angelo.

Diane E. D’Angelo, MS, worked as Gestalt therapist for many years before leaving the profession in 2001. She now works in communications and public affairs. She writes for Voices of Arizona and Divine Caroline, and is a passionate advocate for alternatives to conventional psychiatric treatment.

My mother, Eliese Jeanette LaMirand D’Angelo, died in January, 2001. She was 70. I learned of her death a few years ago through a state records search. I saw her grave for the first time just recently, and it was hard. We’d had no contact since 1994, when she returned a letter I wrote. She’d marked the envelope, “Will Not Accept.” Those words pretty much summed up our relationship from 1984 on.

It’s complicated. I could easily blame homophobia for her behavior, but it wasn’t just that. I always knew somehow that there was going to be…