Over the weekend I joined the Mariners out in the Midwest, albeit in Appleton, Wisconsin, rather than Detroit or Minneapolis. My younger sister is training to be an opera singer, in one of the best programs in the country, and this Friday was her junior recital. Our family moved and traveled a lot when I was young, which often meant that she and I were each other’s de facto friends, and that togetherness in isolation strengthened our relationship. She’s the most important person in the world to me.
Three days before I was set to fly out I got a text from my mom, in her typically staccato texting style, “Sis feeling super cruddy, not able to talk.