Everyone held hands.

Nobody stood outside the house.

Beneath the drawing she wrote, “Next time everybody can come in.” I sat at the kitchen table staring at those words until the page grew blurry.

I did not send the picture to Daniel with an angry message.

I put it on my refrigerator where I could see it while making breakfast.

Children often simplify situations adults have spent years making complicated.

Emma wasn’t asking us to agree about money, and she wasn’t demanding a perfect family.