Watching my mother walking silently around the cottage, making her way from the family room to the kitchen, bedroom to the bathroom trying to re-familiarize herself with her surroundings. She walks to the wraparound deck to check on the flowers. It is one of her favourite parts of this cottage. It has five large flower boxes filled with cheery annuals that will be happy and bright only for one season. Only for this summer, then they are gone. I wonder what my mom will remember from the cottage this time next year. Every action focuses on making memories. I shudder thinking maybe not a lot and then I take a sip of wine. Wine is very medicinal and I enjoy it at the beach. It chases some of those ‘what if’ or ‘what will happen next’ thoughts away.