A story about... Age © 2000 Marg Frey, Bryce Graves-Hurst, [Nahoya], Christine Schwab	CHRISTINE	MARG	BRYCE & NAHOYA
				NAHOYA & BRYCE
			BRYCE
			NAHOYA	MARG & BRYCE
				BRYCE & MARG

Trauma ages you. My mother's hair was always salt-and-pepper before she had a really bad ankle break. She hadn't broken anything before in her life, but this one time she missed a stair on her way down to the kitchen. By the time she could walk again, her hair was another 50% whiter.

Then when my brother died, not only did her hair get whiter again, but her memory started to go. She's about ten years too young for that.

Have you ever heard the theory that you only have so many heartbeats, and the faster you use them, the sooner you die? If it were true, I wonder if I would live a slower and less exciting life. Then, it seems, when your memories were all you had left (elusive as they are) you wouldn't have much.