About living paycheck to paycheck because planning for a future felt arrogant when survival already took everything you had.
One evening, she muted the television suddenly.
“You only think about surviving next month,” she said.
I shrugged.
“That’s usually the important part.”
“No,” she replied sharply. “Dreams are important too.”
I laughed awkwardly.
“I don’t really have dreams.”
“That’s nonsense.”
“Well…” I hesitated. “Maybe someday I’d manage the diner.”
She looked deeply unimpressed.
“Aspiring to own greasy booths and burnt coffee. Magnificent ambition.”
“Thanks for the support.”
“Hm.” She sipped tea. “Still better than having none.”
That winter, she knitted me the ugliest green socks I had ever seen in my life.
“I made these,” she announced proudly.
