NOTE TO READER

AND YEAH, SO I talked to my dad. And that’s how it went. Not half bad, huh?

I was a little bit proud of myself. Before this summer, I probably would have run out right at the beginning, when all I could focus on was feeling mad. But I didn’t this time. I thought about Luis saying he believed I could handle it, and Kate becoming a big sister when she was almost a teenager, and Mom feeling lonely, and Papa riding the merry-go-round, and Nana dying. Sometimes things change whether you want them to or not. So I stayed and I listened. And I’m glad I did.