I found Mom sitting outside crying this morning.

Dad recently died, and she’s been adrift without him.  To be honest, we’re all struggling to find our footing in this new reality.  However, that’s not the point of this tale … or maybe it is.

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“Danny, what’s that on your ankle?” my wife, Laura, asked our fifteen-year-old son as he walked barefoot across the patio.  Panic washed over his face and settled in with a frozen, awkward grin.  He first looked at Laura, as if trying to devise an answer, then to his older sister who was staring at him with an uh-oh expression.

“Gotta blast!” Katie Jo exclaimed as she launched out of her chair and abandoned her little brother to his fate.

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