We went in July.
Ava came with us because she was thirteen months old and could not be left behind, and because we had decided, without needing to discuss it, that family trips were things we took as a family. My mother thought we were brave. Dana thought we were delusional. Kezia said nothing but booked us an aisle seat next to the family bathroom on the flight without being asked.
Lisbon was the kind of city that felt immediately familiar, the way some places do when you have not visited before but recognize the logic of them. We stayed in a rented apartment in Alfama with blue tiles on the exterior wall and a terrace that looked over the rooftops to the river. Ava pointed at the river every morning and said something that was not yet a word but was clearly a comment.
"What do you thi
