“Or a completely unnecessary toy train for Liam?”
“One toy train,” she said, holding up a finger.

“Not twelve.”
I began to look forward to those meetings.

We disagreed over spending sometimes, but our disagreements ended in conversations instead of someone declaring who earned the right to decide.

When Ruth visited later that week, she noticed the drawing taped beside the calendar.

Maya explained the group and its work.

Ruth offered to connect the organizer with a local community center that had free meeting space.

That simple offer meant more to Maya than any grand speech about resilience.