A small room inside a bay window. A single bed, a table and chair, and a sink. I could manage something larger, with more conveniences, but I could never match the view.

Last night was a "blood moon", a lunar eclipse; today the moon is merely full. Weather permitting, I will spend time with her, ask her the kinds of questions that only occur to me while in her presence.

When I was a child, my mother would take me to visit her Aunt Kippy. These were very different visits than those with her Aunt Dodie. As a child I was unsure why.

For the longest time I thought the difference was related to the difference between these two women. Only later did it occur to me that the difference lay not in who these two women were, as people, but the purpose of our visits.

As a child I saw more of Aunt Kippy than I did of Aunt Dodie. As a grown man it dawned on me that my mother only visited Aunt Dodie when she was happy, and Aunt Kippy when she was sad.