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She says so about preparing the bread, and after a few seconds I hear a door shut and the din disappears

"How are you, passarotta e"

My little sparrow She took to calling h school She said all I ever talked about was leaving the nest And even though I’ve heard the endear ainst theet the tears to stop

"Ma h it’s just one word, she knows In that way that allwith just a tiny sound

"Oh, Nell What happened?"

I don’t have words for all the things I’ to ad," I tell her, because that’s what it feels like I have this one chance to get things right, and I thought I was doing it it I thought I knehat I wanted to do and who I was, and now all I can see is a future that terrifiesdecisions

"Impossible," she says "You’re too smart for that"

That only ot I’ run? What if I graduate in the spring, and then I go to grad school, and then I getonly to discover that I’ve spent years ofblindly toward a future that doesn’t make me happy? My brain has never been the problem But my heart is an equation I don’t kno to solve

"Tell ," she says "Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it"

She’s a good uilty that oal is to not be like them It’s because of theh they were sad that I wanted to leave, they wanted me to have every opportunity, to take every chance that was offered toforit all up

I suck in a breath, trying not to let on just how freaked out I am "I justI’m lonely, Mamma And tired And I’m worried about the future, and I don’t know It kind of all overwhel"