The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter

It seems that it must always be the good ones who are taken from us too soon.

is at that moment I feel a strange fluttering sensation deep within me, like a feather brushed lightly against my skin. I stop walking and stand perfectly still. I feel it again. And again. When you feel that first flutter of life . . . there’s nothing like it.

She is utterly in thrall of him and I am ashamed to feel a prick of jealousy as I observe her, knowing she will never look at me that way. Daughters never hold their mother’s affection the way their sons do. Daughters are dutiful, dependable and disposable. Sons are brave and admirable, essential to the continuation of the family line.

We all must face our maker when the time comes and those of us left behind must somehow find the strength to carry on.