In between when he was dating his ex-girlfriend and his wife, I had the utter joy of being my older brother’s best friend. I remember it that way anyway. Perhaps he had another who he thought of in that capacity, but for me, it was enough. Mom’s morning glories were

Inexhaustibly cheerful and intensely, infinitely blue, Mom’s morning glories grew in the small strip of lawn that wasn’t devoted entirely to us. Twined around their triangular trellis leaning against the back wall of the house, her morning glories greeted each sunrise with unabashed if non-optional joy. I loved to stare