He and Joan get up and walk around a gravestone, and Rocky says, "There it is again." He reads, "Elizabeth Rove / Beloved Wife of Carl, / Mother of Adam / November 8, 1952 to November 11, 2000." So she died when Adam was about thirteen, if he's the same age as Joan. She kneels in front of the marker, and then looks down, noticing the small sculpture that Adam had left there. She picks it up and touches one of its spiky metal fronds gently, and then puts her hand over the spot where his name is engraved. She runs her thumb along his name as Rocky asks, "Do you think people hang around for their birthdays on purpose?" Joan doesn't say anything. I knew Adam's mother was dead. I've thought so all along, since the first episode he was in. He's never mentioned either of his parents even once, I don't think; I know he's never mentioned his mother. But we met his father, so I knew he had his dad. Ever since Mrs. LandingGod suggested to Joan that Adam had burdens, I've been very sure of it. And I don't know -- I don't want to be all Joey Potter here with the dead mother issues, but I lost my mother when I was eighteen and there's just something about Adam's sadness that I recognized. I can't explain it any better than that. And I suppose it's part of the reason I find his personality so endearing.