The Chronicles of Us

ℓєиα

My mother
had
three siblings.
An older brother,
and a younger
twin
brother
and sister.
Edmund,
her older brother,
was
Channing's
father.
Alec,
my
other uncle,
had never
been married,
and
as far as anyone
knew,
had never
had a
girlfriend
since
high school.
We all
questioned
his allegiance
to heterosexuality.
Willow,
my aunt,
however,
was married
to an artist,
Leonardo,
who was
from Italy.
Willow
was an
amazing
writer,
too.
She wrote
children's books
and also
fan fiction.
A lot of times,
if someone
wanted to
publish
her books,
she'd
send the
rough draft
to me
to edit first.
Willow and I
had always
been close.
When she was
eighteen,
she was
diagnosed
with
ovarian
cancer.
To save
her life,
her ovaries
had to be
removed.
After that,
she was cancer
free.
But with that,
Willow
was never
able
to have children.
Having
children
was
Willow's
dream.
Willow
jarred
that butterfly
of a dream
and placed
it on the shelf.
She never
stopped
talking
about
raising kids.

All of my family
decided
to celebrate
Thanksgiving
with us
that November.
I couldn't wait.