I thought wearing my grandma\u2019s prom dress would help me say goodbye, until the tailor found something hidden in the hem that made me doubt everything she ever told me.My grandma died on my nineteenth birthday. Right when I ran in to show her the blueberry pie I finally baked without her help.he was sitting in her chair by the window, just like always. Same posture. Same blanket over her knees.\u201cGrandma?\u201d I stepped closer, my smile fading. \u201cHey\u2026 don\u2019t do that.\u201dI touched her hand.I don\u2019t remember calling for help. I remember sitting on the floor, holding onto her sleeve, as if I let go, she\u2019d disappear completely.People came, voices filled the house, and someone kept saying my name like I was far away.\u201cShe\u2019s gone, honey,\u201d a woman said gently.No, she\u2019s just tired. She does this sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But she didn\u2019t.A few hours later, I sat at the kitchen table with Mrs. Kline, our neighbor, who smelled like lilac perfume so strong it made my head ache. She kept reaching for my hand, like she needed to make sure I was still there.\u201cOh, Emma\u2026\u201d she sighed. \u201cI can\u2019t believe Lorna\u2019s gone. She was everything to you.\u201d\u201cShe still is,\u201d I said, staring at the pie I never got to show her.Mrs. Kline nodded, dabbing her eyes. \u201cI remember when she brought you home. You were so small. Seven years old, holding onto her coat like you were afraid the world would take her too.\u201d\u201cIt already took everything else.\u201d\u201cShe never let you feel that,\u201d Mrs. Kline said softly.I let out a short laugh. \u201cShe didn\u2019t give me a choice.\u201dMrs. Kline leaned closer. \u201cAnd it was true. But now\u2026 things are different.\u201dI knew where that was going before she even said it.Emma, have you thought about the house?\u201d Mrs. Kline asked carefully. \u201cThat place is a lot for one girl. Bills, repairs\u2026 you\u2019ve got your whole life ahead of you. College, work\u2014\u201dShe didn\u2019t give me a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I thought wearing my grandma\u2019s prom dress would help me say goodbye, until the tailor found something hidden in the hem that made me doubt everything she… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":40,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47976,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47974\/revisions\/47976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}