On what I didn’t know would be our last vacation, I wanted drinking and dancing; you, museums and cathedrals.

I craved fun and abandon, a pretense there was still joy between us.

But you embraced the passage of time, beheld the mold and the rot, unflinching, preparing to let go.

Maura Yzmore is a writer and science professor based in the American Midwest. See more on her website and follow her on Twitter at @MauraYzmore