Emergency vehicles filled our street on New Year’s Day. We later learned that my neighbor’s father, who had been living with her for the last few months, had passed away unexpectedly. He had been doing well, she told me, and it was a shock.
The very next day, my own mom was admitted to the hospital for what was eventually diagnosed as a stroke. In the weeks before and after Christmas, family members from across the globe had come to town, and she’d spent hours laughing, talking and enjoying all seven of her children and many of her grandchildren.