Here I am, happy as a clam, standing with Henry, age 6 and holding J, age 2. We’re in my grandparents’ back yard in Bell Buckle. This was in 1997, before E came along.

After having lived thru the utterly unexpected seismic shifts that upended and stripped away so much of what I thought I knew to be real and true between 2000 and 2010, I sometimes feel as if I’ve had two lives: before and after. I don’t like that feeling, particularly. And I miss the precious little boy in that photo so very, very much.