15-05-2021-052358It-Ends-with-Us

was weak in the past, but she’s actually one of the strongest women I
know.
“Mom?” I say, pulling back. “I want to be you when I grow up.”
She laughs and brushes the hair from my face. I can see in the way
she looks at me that she’d trade spots with me in a heartbeat. She’s
feeling more pain for me in this moment than she ever felt for
herself. “I want to tell you something,” she says.
She reaches for my hands again.
“The day you gave your father’s eulogy? I know you didn’t freeze
up, Lily. You stood at that podium and refused to say a single good
thing about that man. It was the proudest I have ever been of you. You
were the only one in my life who ever stood up for me. You were
strong when I was scared.” A tear falls from her eye when she says, “Be
that girl, Lily. Brave and bold.”