Three weeks after my father died we held a burial ceremony followed by a late lunch at a kitschy chain bistro. I stood up after the meal to say goodbye to a cousin. Ten years older than me and the only cousin to attend, he recalled a fond memory, expressing the love he felt for my veteran dad, a hero to him. Pulling out his iPhone he mimed scrolling through his contacts, remembering how he would call my dad to connect. Curious, I waited expectantly as he scrolled to V and pronounced, “Oh, it looks like I’ve already deleted him.”
Katie Veltum is a licensed massage therapist in private practice in upstate New York.