


My dearest Emma,
I came for it and it was there, exactly where you said you would leave it, which is the part that matters and the part almost nobody mentions. You could have changed your mind in the night. You did not. That is the whole thing, and it belongs to one person: EMMA.
I want to be honest with you, Emma, because I think you are old enough for honest now. Tonight might be hard. You may want it back around the time the light goes off. That is not you failing and it does not mean you were not ready. It only means you liked it, and it is allowed to be sad about a thing you liked.
It has gone somewhere useful. I take them to the little ones who are just starting out and have not got one yet — the very new ones, who cannot do any of the things you can do. Yours will be somebody’s favorite by the weekend.

P.S. — If you feel sad about it tomorrow, that is allowed too, and it does not undo anything. Brave and sad go together far more often than people admit.