Our family was flying on a Make-A-Wish trip for my sick son — halfway through the flight, the pilot said, “Mike, there’s one thing about this trip that you and your parents know nothing about.”

Mike had imagined. For three days, he laughed more than he’d laughed in months.

On our final evening, we watched fireworks together, and for a little while, illness felt very far away.

The fireworks turned Mike’s face blue, then red, then gold.

I wanted to memorize him.

Not the photograph version.

The weight of him.

The warmth behind his ear.

The way his continue reading …