Memory

My grandma used to say
Choice makes us unhappy
We don’t listen to old people anymore
Be good and if you can’t be good be careful.
I worry about the things I don’t quite remember
like they are a bunch of balloons, just a minute ago in my hand
but now floating in the sky.
If you ask me where we ate breakfast
I couldn’t say but I can recall the moment
she was driving me to the airport (no, that doesn’t seem right)
Maybe taking me out for a meal before I returned to school
and she gave me a pin (or a necklace or stone).
She held her hands around mine
and said it’s good to have something to hold when the world scares you.
I remember that.