What Comes Next

Taking care of my mother and myself

Photo by Danie Franco on Unsplash

I’m sitting in a writing class, trying to concentrate on my assignment when the text from my mother’s care manager pops up on my phone: “Your mother is down to 79.2 pounds this morning.” Suddenly I’m back in Cleveland in mind and body, picturing her –- or trying to –- this skeletal version of the woman I’d last seen in August. Back then, she was at a new low of 87. Now, in the…