“Take care of yourself down there, Iris,” she said quietly.

The call ended with two short tones on my phone screen.

An hour later, the clouds broke apart three thousand feet above the Oregon border.

The snowy peaks of the Cascade Mountains stretched out below the small airplane window like jagged white teeth against the blue sky.

I unbuckled my seatbelt after the flight attendant finished handing out cups of water in the aisle.

I unzipped my leather briefcase on my lap and took out the framed blueprint of my first bridge project.