The picture was imperfect and beautiful.

For years I had used the absence of public recognition as protection.

Then I had brought my family into a public moment to prove a point.

I could not take that day back.

But I could make sure the next choices belonged to my children rather than to the audience I had once imagined watching.

PART 20

A Conversation With My Younger Self

There was a day in early summer when I drove past the small duplex where we lived during the children’s first years.