Introduction: essays don't die -- Three fathers -- First Thanksgiving -- The Paris tattoo -- My year of no shopping -- The worthless servant -- How to practice -- To the doghouse -- Eudora Welty, an introduction -- Flight plan -- How knitting saved my life. Twice. -- Tavia -- There are no children here -- A paper ticket is good for one year -- The moment nothing changed -- The nightstand -- A talk to the Association of Graduate School Deans in the Humanities -- Cover stories -- Reading Kate DiCamillo -- Sisters -- These precious days -- Two more things I want to say about my father -- What the American Academy of Arts and Letters taught me about death -- Epilogue: a day at the beach.