Good Friday. violet crocuses started blooming and yellow crocuses and tulips poked from the ground. We found a millipede larvae, three worms and two sleeping woolly bears. And we planted milkweed around the house.

Mama told me this morning that auntie Valya died yesterday. She was my mom’s best friend since forever. She was the bridesmaid at my parents’ wedding. She was my godmother. She was smart and very, very talkative. She could talk for hours. She knew French and was very good at math. She never married and had a son who was, still is, a few years younger than me. When I was a child, she was the only single mother I knew. Rest in peace, tyotya Valechka. I am not certain anymore what is beyond the life we know, but I hope that you are in a good place.