And just like that, she came back, congratulated us, and fussed over the ring and how lovely it would be to have a daughter-in-law again. I turned to say something to dad and the look of relief that his wife was back, if just for a few minutes, was so great that my heart broke for him. I couldn't be mad at him. I was losing my mom. He was losing the only important thing he had in the world.

God, could I empathize.

Dad, of course, was still trying to fix it. I got my fixer attitude from somewhere. Kitten just stepped up and told my dad he needed...