“The attorney’s office acknowledged it.

They asked for documentation before discussing anything else.

I was recovering from an emergency delivery, and I had two premature infants in intensive care.

I needed sleep, not a war.”

I looked at the photocopies.

One included the hospital birth announcement.

Another contained a request that future matters involving the children go through named counsel.

The record of my absence was not one failure, but a sequence of opportunities I had allowed others to deflect.