“The neighborhood community pantry gave them out to families in need,” Mom answered much too fast, avoiding my eyes.

I peered through the lace curtains of the kitchen window and watched Lucas shoveling heavy wet snow off our walkways.

The pieces of the puzzle drifted all around me, but none of them fit together into a picture that made sense.

Then the illness came on without warning, slowly wearing down my mother’s bright spirit.

Joanne had once hauled heavy laundry baskets and shoved bulky furniture across rooms without asking anyone for help.

Near the end of her battle at St.