The rain had lightened up a bit as I headed south, but I still needed my umbrella to get from the car to the front entry relatively unscathed. I rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds until my mother answered the door.
Looking at her was always sort of strange for me. We were a lot alike — same straight dark hair and big brown eyes, same short little nose and rounded chin. For years, she colored her hair to keep the gray at bay, but after the divorce, she let it pretty much go, and now it had heavy silver streaks through it. She also put on weight immediately after my father took off, but once she went on her vegan diet, she lost most of the extra pounds and got pretty trim. Actually, she looked damn good for someone her age, so it gave me hope that I’d be able to hold up fairly well
