Selected from all the objects accumulated over the years: old photo albums, her wedding ring, a few precious books, and clothes for a week. The rest had already been sorted: some items had been donated, others given away, the most precious shared among family and friends.
She knew this day would come.
Since her fall the previous winter, her health had gradually deteriorated. The doctor’s voice still echoed in her head: “You really shouldn’t be living alone anymore, Margaret.” When Lisa suggested a drive that morning, Margaret understood immediately. Brochures for the San Pines retirement home had been lying on her coffee table for weeks. Lisa had been gentle, but persistent.
They drove in silence as the landscape passed by. Margaret watched familiar places go by: the library where she had volunteered for twenty years, the park where she used to push Lisa on the swings.
