Today I was helping R read a poem from her poetry notebook. As we were sounding out the word "now", I was brought back to teaching E how to sound out that word (not too many years ago). I taught the "ow" sound by playfully pinching her as a hands-on way to remember what that combo of letters said. I repeated the same with R and smiled - but inside, I was dying a bit more remembering E's laugh was gone.