PART 9-My spouse requested a divorce. “I want the house, the cars, everything—except our son,” he declared. I was urged to fight him by my attorney. “Give him everything,” was all I said. Everyone believed that I had gone insane. I signed everything away at the final hearing. He believed he had prevailed. Before his attorney leaned down and whispered something in his ear, he grinned.(End)

Then he walked toward his car.
I went inside.
The house was quiet.
The old tree outside the kitchen window moved gently in the evening wind.
For years, the crooked birdhouse had rested among its branches.
Now the branch was empty.
The emptiness did not hurt.
It meant the boy who once wondered whether he was part of everything had grown into a man who knew his worth was never measured by what anyone chose to keep or discard.
He carried that knowledge with him.
That was enough.
That was more than enough.
That was everything.