On Sunday’s Pettit family Zoom call, we put our anxieties on display. My dad can’t stop talking about the No Good Very Bad president. My sister’s sense of isolation waxes and wanes. I’m watching from the bow as my industry shipwrecks. Halfway through, my niece—who is not just four but four and a half, thank you very much—interrupted to talk about her snow fort.
It’s big. Huge! She built it with her mom and her dad and her brother. They have snowball fights, and she’s in charge of sneak attacks.
Lately, she’s started asking simple, wonderful questions. How are trees made? Where do stars come from? Why do dogs have necks? She is waking up to what exists outside herself. Every day she says hello to more of the world, and to her, it is bright, blanketed in snow.