Perhaps you wonder why I finally met with her

She sat across from me with her lips pinked in

Her hands sort of stroking the black leather of her purse

The hair was round brushed and tucked in like it had been groomed that very morning 

She complimented my half brushed hair sort of wildly sitting there about my shoulders 

I think hair and shoes have a way of reflecting a person and mine were leather and covered in paint splatters and hadn’t been polished in years 

We both ordered the classic, with coffee

Discussed Christmas picking at our over medium over hard eggs 

She sat there, 

 rye bread torn apart so she could eat the stomach of it 

Explaining her daughter and grandkids inadequacy (when compared to how she would do it)

I remember how she explained to me the way her daughter wiped off the counter, leaving little streaks of water to sit on the surface and how she could never consider that correct 

I told her

Someday that will be me, 

and I will also not keep my yard as nicely as yours was 

So please, then, do not judge me like you’re judging her hedges 

She responded as if she never would, ever 

And how she understood people had different priorities and it all made sense. 

I did not believe her.