The story takes us through a mothers grief after the loss of a child. There are no long paragraphs depicting her grief, but rather her fixation on her child’s old, lightly used clothes is our window into her suffering. I liken this piece to a famous, one sentence tragedy; “Baby shoes for sale, lightly used”. The same heaviness that lingers in those words proves this entire piece.
She takes us through her finding out about her sons terminal diagnoses and the rage that accompanied it. The thought that something you love so much will soon be taken from you with no explanation or justice is her struggle. She says that it is unfair, and it is.
Her description of the sympathy cards are my favorite part of this story. She explains her hatred for their dainty, hollow sympathy masked in pastel colors. She says she would prefer the brutal, honest truth over these light and fluffy wishes.
From here she takes us back to her early years. Like Patty Smith (see precious annotation) she begins her story where one ends. Through her coping with death we get insight into her character, but from her past we realize the true weight of her loss.
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