It was a lovely day, the late afternoon sun just over the beach.. I sat with my mother on a bench in the wide expanse. She looked at me for a long moment, almost sentimental. She was never like that.

I put my hand on her shoulder and she held it there. I was comfortable with her like that, the first time in our lives. She was 90.

The nurse arrived, her shadow over our legs. “Don’t get her crying now.”

She helped my mother stand and we walked with her back to the car.