Chapter 26 - EAMON BECOMES A FATHER
Eamon became a father at thirty-two.
A daughter named Lucy.
At four she came home from preschool with a paper medal.
BEST BUG OBSERVER.
Eamon sent me a photograph.
I stared too long.
Then called.
“Are you okay?”
He laughed.
“Yes.”
“Sure?”
“Mom, she found three beetles.”
“Serious achievement.”
“Historic.”
Lucy grabbed the phone.
“Grandma! Medal!”
“I see.”
“Daddy says mine.”
“It is.”
“Can cousin have?”
“If you want to share it.”
She thought.
“No.”
Eamon said:
“Excellent boundary work.”
I laughed until I cried.
He did not tell Lucy the whole family history.
She was four.
May you like
A medal could simply be a medal.
That was the gift.
