bursting with tears

Mom has a new behavior. She will burst into tears; huge sobs, her whole body shaking, gasping, and crying.
I first saw it when my brother was here in December. It is happening more and more often.

I grabbed a huge pile of photographs from Mom's table and brought them out to her, in the common room.  There is no organization to these photos, I don't have any idea what picture will be next.  It's all a jumble, a messy pile of pictures.

The picture of my seven year old son, in a silly pose, has Mom laughing out loud. How nice it is to hear her laugh.

Here is a black and white picture of her parents and her new little brother from the 1950's.  The pain of cancer is evident on my grandmother's young face. You can see she doesn't have the energy to hold the squirming toddler in her lap.  My mother bursts out crying. "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" she wails. She is inconsolable.  Here is a memory, here is something she has not forgotten! She is inconsolable. It is horrible.