Katie, everyone who reads this beautiful, moving story should give you 50 claps. Thank you for sharing your heart. Life, this short blip on the radar screen that we experience here, is so fraught with loss, yet you’ve also captured some of its joy.

I go next week to visit a friend who has ALS. It’s such a tragic illness, robbing her bit by bit of everything except her spirit. Your parents must have been remarkable people to have raised a smart young woman with your sensitivity and capacity for love, and I feel sure they are somewhere “out there” together, watching you with joy and pride.