here I was going, only that I had to get back to the one person who had ever lo

he opened the door and her face crumpled. She didn' t ask questi

her voice thick with emotion.

a single-minded focus, fueled by a burning desire to make her proud, to give her a

. Grandma Rose collapsed. At the hospital, the doctors told me she had a long-undi

y parents. I swallowe

"That' s not my pr

. I left message after message, my voice crac

community, begging for loans, signing handwritten IOUs. I miss

ss, but when Grandma Rose woke up and lea

her voice weak. In a moment of grief and guilt, sh

l blow. But we reconciled quickly, clinging to

ed away in her sleep. She was wearing a new, warm coat I had bough

thew. He looked older, tired. He didn' t say much, just pressed

he mumbled, before tu