Scattered Ashes

"Your mom's in the hospital again."

It was the same as so many times before. She was sick again and they made it sound dire. Fighting with the choice to drive back to my home state or wait it out was never easy.

But the way they pushed, I felt like that time was different.  Maybe it wasn't a false alarm and I should be by her side.

Her only daughter, for the past forty years it had been up to me to hold things together when they threatened to fall apart.

But who would hold me together when my world crumbled and the ashes scattered?