A Memory That Took a Lifetime to Unfold, About Small Objects, Quiet Rituals, and the Strange Way Love Hides in Plain Sight Until You Are Finally Old Enough to See It for What It Always Was
From early childhood, the narrator accepts a strange birthday ritual without question. Each year, his grandfather Henry gives him a small green plastic soldier, wrapped in old newspaper, without explanation. Too young to doubt it, he simply receives the gift, trusting the quiet wisdom of a man who values moments over spectacle and mystery over…