[Lyric] Watch Us Rise page 41 (Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan)

Dad has good days and bad days. Sometimes he is in bed all day and can hardly keep food down and we all walk around the house whispering and the light is dim because we don't want to wake him, we don't want to make his headache worse, don't want him to feel left out of all the fun we are having or the great meal we are eating.

But today is different. Today the curtains in the living room are open and music is playing and the kitchen is a symphony of lids trembling on top of mom's best pots, the faucet goes on and off, on and off, and the timer dings. It's seafood night, and Mom is making her special crab boil: crab legs, corn on the cob, andouille sausage, crawfish, jumbo shrimp, and small red potatoes. We haven't done this in six months.