It was the last week of our lease and the apartment was mostly boxes.
My mom and I were eating takeout on the floor because we'd packed the table.
Her phone rang. It was Mrs. Alvarez from the old neighborhood.
I handed my mom the phone, then after she talked, she passed it to me.
I said hi and then passed it to our neighbor who was helping us pack.
Then the neighbor's kid said hi too. The phone went around the table like a blessing.
I found a bookmark from the bookstore that closed five years ago. It was marking the page in a book I'd never finished.
I realized the small things connect us—the bookmark, the phone call, the last week of a lease.
We were all just saying hi, but it felt like a goodbye and a hello all at once.