I was often sick when I was little. There were excessive bouts of strep-throat and numerous ear infections. They finally removed my tonsils when I was 6, and that took care of it for a time. Later, I seemed to develop a sensitivity to winter, and a persistent bronchitis would set in until spring. But that’s farther on the timeline than I was meaning to go. You asked for a good memory of my mother, and I sincerely couldn’t pull one up yesterday, but this morning I woke up to one I could feel. I was small and sick. My head rested in my mother’s lap, full of the kind of fever that makes you just want to keep your eyes closed, and she traced words on my back, asking me to guess at her message.

*Because Michael asked a good question