A Decade After My Loss, a Photo on an Adoption Site Brought Back Unexpected Memories

coped differently—he buried himself in work, while I tried to hold on to memories. Over time, we stopped speaking about Emma altogether, as if silence could protect us from reopening old wounds. Nearly a decade passed before life began to feel even slightly breathable again.

One evening, in a rare moment of honesty, I told Mark that I still wanted to continue reading …