Lisa Gallagher, my brother and I were certain she was hanging on to die exactly on March 18, but she died about 11 p.m. the night before. There wasn’t much left of her in those final days; she was 100, after all, although until then, she’d been more-or-less rational.

But once her birthday came and went, she went downhill quickly. I really do hope she found my dad — we both adored him more than anyone can know.