My grandmother had gone to the hospital on Sept. 2 for what was supposed to be a straightforward gallbladder removal, but her health had taken a downward turn. I’d been listening to the soundtrack of “Mary Poppins Returns” nonstop during the last two weeks (though I skipped the songs about loss) because it’s peppy and bright, and familiar without having the land mines of memories of listening to the soundtrack of the original, which I’d watched many times with my grandmother.

So when Mom said she was going to listen to Enya through one headphone (which is music that calms her down while running), I put on “Mary Poppins Returns” and sang the songs to her even though I only knew three of every four words. I thought it would be funny.

“You’re singing off key,” she said.

On the second lap, we fell into a groove. I stopped singing. I walked next to her when she ran uphill. At crowded aid stations, I ran in first to make a path for her to follow. If she wanted to talk, she did. If she didn’t, I ran by her side and let my mind unspool across my memories of my grandmom, which were tangled up with memories of the other grandparents I had lost before.

“They were really very different,” I said as we passed the statue of Alexander Hamilton for the second time.

“Who?” she asked.

“Your parents, and dad’s parents,” I said.

“Well sure,” she said. Her father had served in World War II; his in Korea. Her parents were strict but loving Catholics. His were the life of the party. One of the last coherent things Grandmom said to me was that after surgery, she wanted me to bring her a big glass of wine with a lot of ice — just how she liked it. She never got better enough for me to fulfill that promise.

“I miss all of them,” I said.

“I know she wasn’t young, but it’s never easy, Jenny,” she said. “And remember: It’s only been three days.”

Then, after a pause, “Thank you for being here.”

On our third lap, the crowds fell away — a lot of runners finished all three laps in the time it took us to do two. Mom looked fine, but she said she was tired — still running, but tired.