The beginning of the end.

Today I hugged the grocery lady from behind. She laughed and her husband took another drag on his cigarette before smiling broadly. Then she started speaking to me in her fierce Sichuan Chinese and I called down the street to my friend begging her to come over and translate.


Before you leave for the summer, she said holding my hand tightly, make sure to come over and take whatever things you want for the trip. It was what she said to me every year, and I saddened thinking of all the fruit and vegetables and laughter and hand squeezes and smiles and even the odd meal they'd given to me free of charge over the years. Tell her that I'm sad because I don't know when I will come back, I begged my friend to translate. She did.

Then the grocery lady burst into tears. I did too.

What could we do but cry?