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Jane
In mid-March, her memory-care home was declared off-limits to families, to keep residents safe from COVID-19.
She is a mother with a ravaged memory; we are her son and daughter-in-law.
Time slip-slides, elides. I wonder... when can we hug her again? who will we be to her with more memories gone?
Amid this strangeness, spring birdsong expands our soundscape, wildflowers flourish in the duff. It is easy to forget that as life continues, so does death. It happens like this: a 95-year-old woman has a quiet morning, then lunch. She lies down for a nap from which she doesn’t wake.