(A group of women of various ages stand in a loose circle around a small fire as it burns slowly away. A ring of large stone blocks lies behind the girls, settled longways into the earth to make for good seats. The last rays of sunlight cast long shadows over the scene as evening sets in.)

Aura (The Professional): Shall we begin? 

Mom (Me): Sure… Here, have a candle. 

(I hand a candle to each of my girls in turn. Once everyone has one, I will my candle to flame and light Twyla’s candle from my own. Each of us helps the next youngest light her own candle until Bloom’s candle burns as bright as the rest of ours.)

Bloom (The Survivor): Thanks, sis.

Mom: We’re gathered here today to observe Trans Day of Remembrance, started in 1999 to remember those of us who lost their lives to transphobic violence in the past year. But violence takes many forms, and I find it appropriate on this day to remember trans people who lost their lives for any reason. 

Twyla (The Parent): I read last year’s Trans Day of Remembrance scene… You felt it necessary to justify sharing your story since we didn’t experience violence directly. 

Mom (determined): I’m not concerned about that this year. Last year we shared stories of the things that might have killed us in another life… We were not so close to trans death that we had any sense of it beyond stories and statistics. That is no longer true.

Kay (The Friend): I remember the night we came here like it was yesterday. A lot of our friends were here when we arrived, sitting or standing around this fire. We shared devastated hugs with a number of them. 

Ivy (The Partner): In a way it was beautiful to see our community come together… All of us wished we were assembled under better circumstances, but it was heartening to see so many of us at the vigil.

Lark (The Dreamer): We got the news so suddenly… Out of the blue, a friend of ours was suddenly gone, and we would never see her again. We would never get the chance to know her better.

Kay: We lit candles for her that night too. 

Bloom: Though we had such a hard time keeping them lit! The wind kept blowing them out, and we eventually dug holes behind these stones so we could stand the candles up and shield them from the constant gusts.

(All of us fell silent for a few moments as we let the memory of that night wash over us.)

Lark: I still find it strange, how similar she was to us in a lot of ways. 

Mom: Yeah… We went to the same peer support group, of course.

Kay: That’s how you met her. You joined about a month apart, if memory serves.

Ivy: You started HRT around the same time as her too…

Mom: I was always in awe of her style. Whenever I saw her at group she looked amazing.

Bloom: She even shared a deadname with us.

Mom (conflicted): She did, though I didn’t know it until after she was gone. I found out because it was printed in her obituary. It seems that much of her family was not especially accepting. 

Aura: And we know she struggled with making ends meet.

Mom (reserved): Yes… Maybe she would have survived if she had the opportunities that I have… I don’t know. 

Lark: We’ll never know. 

Mom: No we won’t. So instead, we remember. She is gone, and we will not forget. 

Everyone Else (solemn): We will not forget.

The girls stand for a few moments more before sitting on the stones begins them, holding their candles in silence as the fire burns down.