I used to roll my eyes when Grandma Lourdes skipped family dinners out. She’d wave us off with a smile and say, “I’m not hungry,” then stay home in her worn slippers and soft cardigan. I told myself she was stingy, or just didn’t like crowds. After she died, a woman I’d never seen before came to the house with a crumpled photo and tears she could barely breathe through. “Did you know,” she asked, voice shaking, “that she bought my kids groceries every month for three years?”

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