i think about the home movies we watched in the days before she died , all those moments strung together like a patchwork of memories : mom wearing a santa hat on christmas morning , mom whooping in the stands at jeffrey 's first football game , mom bending to find a round , perfect sand dollar on the beach at santa cruz , or that time we went to the winchester mystery house on halloween night and she ended up more creeped out than we were , and we teased her-oh , man , did we tease her-and she laughed and clutched at our arms , jeffrey on one side and me on the other , and she said , let 's go home .