'When I'm 12, I'm going to be on Broadway in a play with Sutton Foster." This is what I love about children. They dream big.

Charlotte was 8 when she said this. She's 9 now and every bit as sure that Broadway is in her future. There's no "Maybe I'm not good enough" in her tone. No self-doubt. No looking outside of herself for affirmation. She is certain that if she tries hard..

He was always taking her picture. He could have photographed different things: the trees he planted to separate our yard from the neighbor's; the birds that nested in those trees; our dog, Buttons, whom he fed leftovers on the sly. He could have photographed the grotto my mother wanted, which he struggled to build on so many of his days off, or the cement patio he poured, where my best friend, Rosemary, and I left our handprints…