“My grandfather... The last thing he said to my mother was “Your mother loves you”... Years later it occurred to me that when someone says what my grandfather did, what they mean, what would be far more accurate, is “She is trying to love you as best she can.” This might be okay with you, or it might now be what you need at all... and now I am forty years old... I don’t have a daughter and I don’t know if I ever will. But if I do, we will not carry this sadness forward. I’m tired of holding it.”
