She tried to understand what it meant to carry winter on your back, to hesitate over every step, to confuse words you don't hear properly, to have the impression that the rest of the world is going about in a great rush; the emptiness, frailty, fatigue, and indifference toward everything not directly related to you, even children and grandchildren, whose absence was not felt as it once had been, and whose names you had to struggle to remember. She felt tender toward their wrinkles, arthritic fingers, and poor sight. She imagined how she herself would be as an elderly and then ancient woman.
The character reflects on the burdens of aging, grappling with the metaphorical weight of winter on her back and the challenges it brings. She experiences a disconnection from the world, feeling out of sync while observing a world that moves swiftly around her. Her sense of self becomes tethered to her memories, where previously cherished relationships, with children and grandchildren, now seem distant and challenging to recall. This profound shift brings...
