"I Love You More"

A woman on her deathbed. She has not eaten in five weeks and takes only tiny spoonfuls of ice water and microscopic portions of ice cream. She is a picture of unspeakable exhaustion. My mother lives on and no one knows why or how.

Her hospice care person is Mary Jo. Mary Jo's heart is as big as my mother's is strong. A few nights ago she arrived to bathe and change and care for her patient as she always does.
She went directly into my mother's room and bent down close to my mother's face and in that lyrical and kind Mary Jo sort of way, softly said,
"Hi. I love you."

And my mother's eye's barely lifted and she whispered to her friend,
"I love you more."