It did make the next conversation possible.

Lucas was beginning second grade.

He had joined a small soccer team and made a friend named Oliver who liked dinosaurs as much as he did.

Sometimes he went an entire week without mentioning the cemetery.

Other weeks he asked several questions in one day.

His counselor reassured us that recovery for children often moved in circles rather than straight lines.

One Saturday, after a game in which Lucas missed an easy shot, he came to me with tears in his eyes.