“In memory. In memory. In memory.”

Wow, it hit me just as hard as it had the year before. Then, I came upon a different-looking luminary bag.

“Cancer Survivor,” it read. My heart soared.

“Melinda Marchiano.”

Gramma and Poppy had lovingly created an “In Honor of ” bag for me.

All the feelings came back to me: the guilt, the pride, the hope, the gratitude, the loss—it all formed a strange barnacle on my heart. I prayed to God, at that moment, that I would be standing in that same place, looking at a similar bag, years into the future.