At four, Ava was a complete person.
I say this not as hyperbole but as observation. She had been moving toward completeness for four years but at four she arrived there, fully inhabiting herself in a way that some adults never managed. She knew what she liked and did not like. She knew how she felt and said so. She knew what was fair and held to it. She knew what she wanted from a given day and pursued it with the focused patience of someone who had learned early that good things required effort.
Her fourth birthday party was in the studio, which she had requested specifically. She said she wanted it where Mama works because the studio was where the interesting people were. I was not sure how to feel about the implication that home was the less interesting location, but I respected the l
