Then his mother died of a stroke, died so fast he wasn’t able to make it home to tell her goodbye. In his grief, he sleepwalked through his mother’s wake, forgetting the names of her colleagues and students as soon as they introduced themselves. Later, he’d remember only one person he met that day. A woman in dark blue shook his hand and said, “Jeremy, dear, I know your mother was so proud of you. She told me all the time.”
