Happy Mother's Day

I received this message today. It was sent to the email address form on my web site. I want to share it with you. I rarely get a compliment that means as much to me personally as this one does. We can consider it a postface to my two prior essays on lobotomy and on my first feature film A Hole In One. I’ve removed the email address and all the proper names. My short film the writer is speaking about, The Gate of Heaven, can be found here. Happy Mother’s Day.

Message: Hello Richard, and Thank you so much for your heartfelt and deeply touching short film about the cemetery where my mother lays entombed. I watch it religiously about once a month, with bittersweet memories of that God awful place where I was conceived, born, and weened (for the first year of my existence until being placed in foster care) . Used to dread visitations which were mandated until I was 9yo , but somehow, your short film gives me a sense of closure and peace of mind. Despite the fact that I'll never know which one of those numbers was assigned to my birth mother [name witheld] . Please let me know if you have a dvd of "Gate to Heaven" available for sale, as it holds a special place in my heart . Kind Wishes, [Name witheld]

From my short film The Gate of Heaven - The Cemetery of the Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center.