My daughter-in-law laughed as she gave me a $2 scratch-off for my 73rd birthday. Ten months later, my own son shoved a senior living brochure in front of me and said, “We already picked your room.” They thought I was too old to fight back. They had no idea what I had been hiding.

Every decision was made around her, never with her.”

“Did she object?” I asked.

“All the time.

We called her stubborn.”

Jessica looked down at her hands.

“I guess I learned that was normal.”

It was the first time she’d offered an explanation without turning it into an excuse.

I listened while she described a house full of resentments, people sacrificing things without being asked, then punishing one another for the sacrifices.