An adult daughter caring for her aging mother suffering from dementia...The complexities of role reversal of parent and child to patient and caregiver...Memories of a sometimes-difficult relationship they shared over the years, often impeding the daughter's ability to be the daughter her mother needed...The absence of feeling after the mother dies.The Milk Box takes the reader through this maze of emotions and, after the mother dies, to the daughter's struggle to understand the numbing denial of any happy moments they once shared. Family letters found in the mother's attic, some dating back to the mid-1800s, begin a journey of discovery. Letters that talk about life in rural Missouri, world events of the early 20th century and the impact on their lives, and the loving family relationships that endured throughout.