Measuring

No mention was made of my being gone for two weeks, and forest cleaning began right away on our walk. My mom correctly guessed that she could not wrap her arms around this cedar, and also guessed correctly that she wasn't even half way.

Later in the walk she asked me, as she often does, if I'm feeling better now. "Are you feeling better now? Or are you still stuck up?" She also asked me many times what I'd be studying when I went back to school. I thought the river trip dried me up like a prune, but maybe it made me look younger.