I realized, after the death of my mother, I was rendered an orphan. It’s not a club I wanted a complimentary membership to. But it’s an unavoidable membership for most of us. When the realization hits, no matter one’s age – though admittedly, being a child and experiencing this would be devastatingly traumatic – it is felt like an inexplicable heaviness in the chest that seeps its way down to the ends of the toes. Because what is really happening is one is facing one’s own mortality. And if that doesn’t make you feel like an adult, nothing will.