Terminated for attending my mother’s funeral.” After five years of loyalty, I was fired by email while still grieving.

to the small ranch house my mother had left me, parked in the driveway, and sat with both hands on the steering wheel. The porch light was still on. I had forgotten to turn it off the morning of the funeral.

For a moment, grief rose so sharply I could barely breathe.

I wanted to call her.

I wanted to hear her say, “Make tea first. Panic after.”

But the continue reading …