We wind our way along the canal ribboned with trees shifting into fall brilliance, sky an azure stillness and everything turning. Jessie points to the ancient maple ripening into red at the curve just before Dow’s Lake. "That one." I flush with mother joy. I taught her that. To consider the trees. For a full lifetime of autumns she listened to me call out my favorites, with all of her focus on her phone. Today, she dares to notice. We briefly meet, our eyes, and other tender bits well-hidden in the caregiving embrace that is part prison for us both.
Nancy Huggett is a settler descendant who lives, writes, and caregives in Ottawa, Canada, on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg people. linktr.ee/nancyhuggett Twitter: @nancyhuggett Instagram: @nanhug