“In the fall of 2020, the school was occasionally back to a hybrid schedule due to the uptick of new COVID cases. One of the assignments that Ava had to work on was for her language arts class. She would have to read a short story and then answer a multiple-choice question based on the story that she just read. I can still vividly recall how excited her voice was when she called me into the room to look at her monitor. She had just read a short story and needed to select from two characters that were randomly given on the screen. The two names that happened to pop up at this moment were DARIA and LYNN. Daria’s middle name was Lynne. To have one of those names in front of us would have been an “oh, wow” moment for us. To have both names staring back at us was what we felt to be a sign that Ava was being watched over while doing her schoolwork. Through her entire schooling, Ava has needed a bit of assistance with her work. Either Daria or I would spend a little extra time with her on assignments, and with a little extra grit and determination, she would get her work done. This particular moment offered a bit of comfort for both Ava and me…a little reassurance that Mommy was there to continue helping her along.”
