Part Two: The War Inside Four Walls

Part Two: The War Inside Four Walls. For nine years, my mother existed somewhere between living and dying. Sunday service was mandatory; when the front door shut and chaos ensued, I wondered who, exactly, was in charge here. Growing up with a parent with cancer meant learning to mourn the living while feeling the pressure to build a future big enough to hold the years she would never get to live. My best friend swallowed all my pain while her mother, unsure how to make any of it better, saved my life by offering me a place at their table with a side of homemade macaroni and cheese.