In her essays and stories, Fragile writes about the creative writing process and parenting topics close to her heart.

by Fragile Tossa

These days, Mom is generous with her clothes and belongings – even the old ones. She finds beauty in other kinds of things now. But her old things are not just any old things. Seasoned and deeply beloved, her photo albums, jewelry, handbags, shoes, and clothes have been wrapped and unwrapped many times, and moved from home to home across several continents. Some things are missing, of course, but the remaining ones are gloriously preserved in her drawers, and mine, carefully arranged and packaged like gifts into cloth-lined storage boxes. These things are souvenirs whose magnetic glow seeps through the cracks in the wrappings that masquerade as a kind of closure. But there is no way to seal off the left-over fragrance of Trésor de Lancôme that is always in the mood to play with me and lure me back to the time when Mom’s things were new and she was young. I’m not always in the mood to play, but when I am, I easily dissolve in that scent, like Mom was young only yesterday.

Read in full on June 1, 2023.