Emberwood one in a million

mama smiled, and that meant she liked dahlia's questions. her heart swelled in her chest all the way up to her throat where it caught; she felt guilty for feeling so much joy when just moments ago, she had been overcome by worry.

mama's response was a lot for her, philosophically speaking. what she said was so abstract; she had no life experience to fill in the gaps. but if life was the teacher of all lessons, that must have meant that mama went through this once, too.

mama, she says, what happened? which could really mean anything, once she thought about it. she went on to clarify with life, when you learned this lesson?