Diwali came early this year for Mom. And not the way Diwali, our festival of lights, regularly comes early in my family when one of us neglects to turn off the lights and Mom yells, "Is it Diwali? Turn off the lights!" No, not like that.
Diwali came early this year because time becomes a meaningless loop when you're trapped at home with cancer. Trapped at home because you live in a country that has decided your life, and the lives of others who are sick and old, are expendable. So even though Dad is the one with the memory loss so bad he forgets whether he has eaten dinner, Mom is the one who messed up tracking Diwali. She thought it was a month earlier than it was.
