I sat in the Orthodox Jewish synagogue surrounded by women with head coverings, separated from my husband by a glass demi-wall. My granddaughter read her Bat Mitzvah speech up front. She stuttered a little, lost her place, then listed the people in her life who’d helped her along the way. When she named the other grandmother as “the best grandmother,” I froze. Just wait, I thought, she’ll mention you. After she thanked a neighbor’s toddler, the speech ended. I asked to read what she’d written, was touched, wishing I was as nice as she’d said in the lines she’d skipped.
Bliss Goldstein is CALYX Journal's winner of the Margarita Donnelly Prize for Prose Writing. Her book in progress is "How Not to Be an Asshole." www.blissgoldstein.com