“So are we going to Italy?” Jessica asks. “You said you would think about it.” “I am thinking about it. But it seems like it could be really hard.” “What will be hard about it?” “Well, I don’t speak the language.” “Mom. Sharon went to Italy and she doesn’t speak Italian.” Yes, but she does…

I am standing on a subway platform in Washington, D.C., and trying to figure out how, exactly, to get to the line I want to get to, and Jessica is vibrating with anxiety next to me. “Do you know what you’re doing?” “Does it look like I know what I’m doing?” “Are we lost?” She…

Jessica is running her finger along the spines of the travel books on the shelf at the bookstore. “Hong Kong,” she reads. “We are not going to Hong Kong.” “Nope.” “Indonesia. Not there, either.” “Nope.” “Italy.” She smiles, and starts lifting books off the shelf and loading them into my arms. “We don’t need all…