Your sorrow will become smaller, like a star in the daylight that you can't even see. It's there, shining, but there is also a vast expanse of blue sky.
--Alice Hoffman, Survival Lessons
"You've been busy."
That's what my surgeons said when they walked into my hospital room the day my mom hung the article on the wall...
When I was 6, I practiced that cheer while my mom dressed me in clothes warm enough for the nosebleed seats. I'd smile a toothless smile, black and orange ribbons in my hair, as Dad and I drove downtown toward the Philadelphia Spectrum.