I thanked her and went to work and designed a client’s kitchen as though the floor of my own life were not tilting under me.

That week of waiting taught me something about myself I hadn’t known.

I had expected to fall apart — to spend the days useless, checking my phone, spiraling.

Instead I worked.

I finished the kitchen, took two new consultations, and slept, mostly.

It frightened me a little, how functional I was.