Bella gets the call early in the morning: It’s her sister Cicely, telling her that Mama has died.
Mama had been confined to the Edgewood Nursing Home, and Bella had visited her every few months even though they’d almost always end up fighting. Throughout Mama’s time at the nursing home, Bella’s sisters and brother’s didn’t visit Mama much. Some of them were just thirty minutes away but only saw her once a year.
In this memoir, Bella looks back with regret at Mama’s last days in the nursing home as well as the relationship they had growing up. She also offers a sad thought: If one can care for six, how is it six cannot care for one? She also explores the relationship Mama had with her own mother. They were the best of friends, and she thinks one of the reasons Mama fell ill is because of her own mother’s death.
