Grief & Loss

Later, we pieced together what happened. Around 11 p.m. the night before, she told my dad she thought she was having a stroke. He was lucid enough to understand something was wrong — but not lucid enough to act. His dementia had progressed further than we wanted to admit. Twelve hours later, neighbors found him wandering outside with the phone and the phone book, trying to call 911. He hadn’t managed to. They went inside and found my mom. But here’s the part that undoes me. S

It all started on June 3, 2024 — the day my life quietly divided into before and after. I got the call no one is ever ready for: My mother had suffered a stroke. There was no hesitation. I dropped everything in San Jose and started driving south to Southern California. My fiancé came with me. We didn’t even fully process what was happening — we just moved. But life doesn’t pause for emergencies. We only made it halfway to Paso Robles when my tire exploded on the highway. Just