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"But the reality of what it will aze drifted away as I thought about what she’d said Then I nodded "Yeah"

"Jenna,She said that the oak tree has the deepest and strongest roots, and that when the Santa Ana winds blow, those live oak trees are the hardest to blow over On the other hand, the eucalyptus trees that grow all over the place around here…you know, those really, really tall ones? They’re always in danger of getting blown over by the very same winds, and that’s because their roots are shallow"

I played with the food onintently

She continued "In other words, the deeper the roots go, the less likely you are to be blown over And if you uproot yourself and o deep"

I se to clied "You asked for my advice"

"I didn’t, really, but thank you Your abuelita was a wise lady"

"She was" Her wide, dark eyes grew soleoing to try and read my head bumps, are you?"

She snorted "No But maybe you should read your cards"

That was an excellent idea…

And later that night, that’s exactly what I did I pulled out ive Willia--spread a cloth out on the floor and sat cross-legged in front of it I let hts drift as I shuffled the cards, but every ti hands holding ainst mine

I sed the lump in my throat and pulled a simplespread--nine cards in three rows The top row represented the past The middle, the present The bottom row, the future I savedfor others Either way, the cards in front of me all at once seemed to help clear my mind and whisper new stories to me

Sometimes the cards "spoke" to ht, it al The first row hit e of Pentacles, the Tower, the five of Cups Wow, it was alraphy in three sie of Pentacles--Brock The card represented a young person full of potential, practical, dutiful, reflective and conscientious I smiled Yes, that was him

That card was followed by the Tower--the universal shit-hits-the fan card It was always hard to have this card co that it was about the past That the terrible event--the loss of Brock and all that I’d planned for our future--had taken place long ago Six long and painful years ago

Which brought me to the Five of Cups The loss and my reaction to it The impact that sent ripples of pain into the present and the future My throat thickened so that I couldn’t s

The suit of Cups represented all that was tied to emotions And there were so many tied to that loss and the events that followed Losses that went even deeper than the loss of Brock Papa…

The ie of three cups turned over, two cups still filled depicted three cups’ worth of water lost-- And yet…two cups remained full For the first tie notion…