Eat First, Cry Later

July 25, 1944, remains etched in my memory, a day when my life changed forever. After my brother’s death, our home collapsed into a grotto of sorrow. Alone at the top of the steps, I developed a sudden, uncontrollable urge to help my parents overcome their devastating grief. I would make myself happy by making them happy; I would make them happy by doing my best in everything, just as my brother had done. I became the person I am as we began the terrible thing that was continuing life without someone we had counted on to hold so many things together.