Sometimes I listened.

Mrs.

Alvarez helped me find a trustworthy roofer.

A neighbor repaired the gate in exchange for a batch of the pickles Grandpa had taught me to make.

Richard answered my questions about estate paperwork even when I asked something twice.

One Saturday, I opened the garage and found Grandpa’s wooden toolbox beneath an old tarp.

Inside was the hammer he had taught me to hold at age seven, when I insisted on building a birdhouse.

I remembered missing the nail and hitting the board hard enough to split it.