He was concentrating hard, the tip of his tongue poking out of one corner of his mouth.

It was the same face he used to make at four years old when he was trying to tie his shoes.

A few days later he brought me something he had written for school.

The assignment was to describe someone who had helped him.

He wrote about Ms.

Tran teaching him to say hard words and about Gloria’s spaghetti.

He added a line about me making pancakes even when it wasn’t Sunday.

I asked if he wanted to hang the paper on the refrigerator.