july

She recognized my birthday last summer by gifting me a diamond and ruby ring that for some time I had joked would one day be mine.

In my horribly normal way I spent the rest of the afternoon in a quiet and sad haze. The ring in a box on the kitchen table.

Cornering me in the laundry room she asked what was wrong. Was she giving me that ring because she thought she was dying and starting to offload things? No no, she had nothing else to give me for a present. I didn't take it home with me.

10 months later she is dying.