For two years, I believed I had survived the worst loss a parent can face. Then, on Christmas Eve, my granddaughter said something so impossible that it stopped my heart and changed everything!I’m 67 years old. And never in my life did I think I’d be packing school lunches and wiping tears again at this age. But life doesn’t wait for you to be ready.

My granddaughter Willa has been my whole world for the last two years. She just turned six — all questions and contradictions. One moment she’s chasing the cat in a tutu, the next she’s asking where heaven is and whether her mom misses her from there.She has cute, small hands and a loud laugh. But it’s those eyes, though — big and brown. The same eyes my late daughter Nora had when she was that age.Nora had Willa alone. The man responsible vanished before the ink was dry on the first ultrasound photo. She had tracked him down once and found an old address through a friend who worked at the DMV.