My grandmother died peacefully at home last night. I had been at my grandmother’s apartment with my mom and all her sisters for the evening, but was out when she actually died. I walked back in to find my mother and all three of her sisters sitting around their mother’s body on the bed, talking and saying goodbye to their mother as they waited for the hospice workers to arrive. There was a lot of laughter and relief and release for everyone. I mostly sat and listened.

At one point, my aunt Cherie pointed to my grandmother’s very bony hip protruding from the blankets. “I can’t believe her hips got so skinny.” my aunt observed. Then she flapped her hand dramatically at her mother. “Gawd, Mom,” she said. “I’d just die to have hips like that!”