year later, I moved into the little cottage on weekends.
Sometimes I would sit on the porch drinking coffee.
Sometimes Mom joined me.
We would watch the sunset over the water.
Talk about nothing.
Talk about everything.
One evening I finally asked her something.
“Why did the nurse tell me?”
Mom laughed.
A mischievous laugh.
The kind I hadn’t heard in years.
“Because I asked her to.”
I nearly dropped my coffee.
She nodded.
“I knew you’d never slow down on your own.”
“So this was planned?”
“Every bit of
