died

One year ago, I left my job to travel with my father. Neither of us had taken a vacation in years; he was a widower living alone, and I was a journalist who had prioritized my career for 25 years.A trip was something we had discussed after my mother unexpectedly…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Maia Storm, of Maia’s Makery. It has been edited for length and clarity.In January, my dad, with whom I have always had a strained relationship, died unexpectedly.For the last few years, my dad had been homeless on and off. Throughout that…

People now speak honestly about postpartum exhaustion, hormones, and sleepless nights, but very few people talk about the way motherhood pulls you back toward your own mother in almost instinctive ways.Every uncertainty suddenly becomes a reason to reach for her. When my baby boy would not settle, when his cry…

Last year, when my Grandma Annette died, my cousins and I got to pick out some of her jewelry to take home.I was glad to keep a few mementos of my grandmother, but I wished I knew the stories behind the necklaces and bracelets I’d grabbed. Which was her favorite?…