Meet Lena
An illustrative story
It’s raining when Lena’s daughter asks whether they’ll still live here when she grows up. Lena says, “I hope so.” She’s spent the week looking at flood maps after water came up to the porch again.
Later her daughter brings her a drawing of where they could put a vegetable garden. Lena starts to say they’ll see. She notices she’s been saying that about almost everything.
The house may need changes. They may eventually move. In the meantime, the possibility has started making decisions about things Lena could still do this spring.
Caring for the future can crowd out the present
Lena’s worry is attached to something real. Water reached the porch. She wants to give her daughter a stable place to grow up. It makes sense to think beyond next week, and it’s hard to know when she’s thought far enough.
Once every spring plan has to survive every future she can picture, almost anything can feel premature. Her daughter’s garden drawing makes the cost visible. There’s something they both want to do that doesn’t require knowing where they’ll live in twenty years.