Six months later, in October, I received a letter from the Ashford Foundation.
It was a plain white envelope with the foundation's return address and no stamp, which meant it had been hand-delivered, which meant someone had been in my neighborhood, which meant someone had gone out of their way.
I opened it at the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee going cold beside me.
The letter was from Patricia Lang. It was short and formal, and it said that the board had completed its review of the charter and had voted to keep Article Seven open, and that the policy of founder eligibility would be revised to allow for "spousal inclusion upon application and approval," and that I was welcome to apply.
I read it twice. Then I put it down.
I did not feel the way I had expected to feel. I had spent
