“‘Jen, I heard you’re off work right now.’ BECAUSE I JUST HAD CANCER SURGERY! ‘And you might have some time on your hands.’ BECAUSE HE LOST HIS JOB! ‘And maybe you need a distraction.’ BECAUSE EVERYONE IS DYING! ‘I have two babies in my office. They need a home. Today.’ Ohhhhhhh.”
‘I texted my husband I had worried for nothing because everything seemed fine. Until it wasn’t fine. He waited until we were driving home, until he didn’t have to look us in the eye.’
‘I was sitting next to a grandmother of 3 children. ‘Honestly,’ she said, ‘kids these days have no idea what real values are, and they’re certainly not going to learn them from their parents.’
“‘What does that mean?’ I asked her curiously.”
‘My mom spent an hour in the driveway in and out of consciousness playing sidewalk chalk with my daughter. We left that night and I knew it would be the last time I saw her.’
“I had plans to go to her alone, but one hour before I left, I told my husband I needed him to come and that I wanted my daughter there too. I always had an intuition about her wellbeing.”
‘Right after my grandmother died, I found my mom in her bedroom writing down her thoughts. Through her tears she said: ‘You can read this when I’m done.’’
“I remember all the times I left my home on May Avenue, watching momma wave to me as I pulled away. I know how important that last wave is.”
‘I couldn’t help but overhear their conversation. The woman shared that her grandmother had a son. He died immediately after he was born. Someone took photographs to show her later – because they knew she’d never get to see him.’
“I realize I eavesdropped a bit more than I intended. But when you’ve lost a baby – these moments have a way of finding you.”
‘I asked my 95-year-old grandfather to dance with me. I have never seen him smile so big in my life. I wanted to live in this moment forever.’
“When my grandfather saw my tears, he asked me why I was crying.”
‘The purple blanket isn’t yours. Even though it covered your car seat when you left the hospital. Even though you sleep with it every night. It’s not yours.’
“The preeclampsia had its way. She came early, and she came silently. The purple blanket never touched her fragile skin.”
‘Was waiting to pick up my kids from school when 3 boys took down the flag. They were having a hard time making sure it didn’t touch the ground, when the third boy laid under it to honor it.’
“I was shocked and yelled to my niece, ‘He just laid under it!’ Wow! I just watched the most amazing act of Patriotism.”
‘She is 5, her curls draped around her cheeks. As she straightens her crown, she finds the reflection of her gray hair and sad eyes staring back at her. She is dressing for her fourth funeral this year.’
“Looking at her reflection she is forced to blink to see clearly. Her gray hair is set in curlers. She is thinking about all the friends and family she has outlived. She considers bending down to fix her knee-high stocking, but instead, sighs deeply.
‘I took hostages everywhere I went, and the first one was my grandmother. Loving, kind, and elderly made her the perfect target for my addiction.’
“She gave me a car, a phone, and a bed to sleep in. In return I gave her lies, sleepless nights, and stole everything I possibly could.”
