At home I made a simple calendar with the ordinary things she could count on: school, library, grocery shopping, Saturday pancakes, bedtime reading.

I left blank spaces where surprises could happen, because a child’s life should not be a military schedule.

When she saw it, Mabel asked whether it meant we would never miss pancakes again.

‘Sometimes we might,’ I said.

‘But if we do, we’ll choose another time together.

You won’t have to wonder whether they have been canceled forever.’