Homework.

Bills.

A field trip permission slip.

A follow-up appointment that took forty-five minutes of driving for six minutes with a doctor.

Some afternoons Tessa was energetic enough to bike on the quiet path behind Lauren’s neighborhood.

On others she felt tired, and we made soup and watched movies.

Her physician told us healing could involve setbacks, and we learned not to mistake a difficult day for a failed recovery.

One Saturday she asked Brian to help her build a birdhouse.