The house is at the end of the road, nestled behind a playground in Loughrea, an ancient town in County Galway. Built of white stone with gray trim, it has lace curtains, a statue of the Virgin Mary and two small bedrooms, one pink, the other blue.
In the living room, a small, fragile woman in a plaid skirt sits in an overstuffed orange chair. She is 93 but lives alone, with an overweight mutt named Rex. Day after day, she busies herself with small tasks — praying the rosary, hanging the wash, letting the dog into the yard — while she waits for the return of the son she never got to hold.