Nai nai

There are deep hollows beneath my mother’s eyes, and from where I stand, she has never looked older. Her gray roots tell me she hasn’t taken care of herself for days. I promptly feel an immense amount of fluency towards her— a nurture that she’s always given to me.

“She called me Umi.”

Hm? My mom hums.

“Grandma. She said umi meant ‘sea’ in Japanese. She …