The Mother I Really Wanted

A Requiem

Photo by Judah Leblang

“There are no good options here,” the surgeon said, confirming what I had just figured out, the realization snaking its way into my mind and body. Standing on Harvard Street in Brookline on a blustery day in early January, ten minutes out of therapy where I told my therapist that my mother, getting hospice services in her assisted living apartment, was rushed to the ER the night before due to heavy…