Gemotions

The envelope felt heavy in her hands, though it contained nothing more than a few sheets of paper. Amelia stood in her mother's rose garden, the scent of the blooms a potent reminder of the woman she’d lost. Her stomach did a flip-flop. She’d been putting this off for weeks. She’d found the letter tucked inside a cookbook, a list of aspirations scrawled in her mother’s familiar hand.

She took a shaky breath, the paper rustling as she opened it. The first entry: *Visit the Louvre Museum in Paris.* Amelia bit her lip, a wave of uncertainty washing over her. She’d never been to Europe. The idea of traveling alone, fulfilling her mother’s wishes, felt overwhelming. She felt quite small.