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" &amp;quot;Liz, I know I should have told you, but please don&amp;#039;t be mad\u2026&amp;quot; he said.  Or that was what he started to say. I was up and out of my chair, hugging him as hard as I could, before the words were totally out.  &amp;quot;Congratulations, Jackson,&amp;quot; I said. &amp;quot;I love you.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;I love you too,&amp;quot; he said.  And \u2014 standing there, in happiness \u2014 I started to cry.  All I wanted to do last weekend was celebrate Jackson&amp;#039;s incredibly amazing success. But I knew that I couldn&amp;#039;t be sincere about it \u2014 that neither of us really could \u2014 until we were sure that he was going to be allowed to enjoy it.  Or, at least, that it was a possibility.  So late Friday night, a little after 1:30 a.m. EST, while it was still a reasonable hour in California, I called my sister.  She picked up after one ring.  &amp;quot;Michelle, do you have a minute to talk?&amp;quot; I said.  &amp;quot;I know,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;Please don&amp;#039;t be angry. I know what you are going to say.&amp;quot;  I stared at the phone&amp;#039;s receiver. &amp;quot;You do? Did you speak to Jackson?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;No, but I sent the e-mail to him too.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;What e-mail?&amp;quot;  I hadn&amp;#039;t checked my e-mail since getting home that night.  &amp;quot;The e-mail saying \u2014 no, explaining \u2014 why I couldn&amp;#039;t come for Presidents&amp;#039; Day like we talked about. I was going to call you tomorrow to explain in more detail. But I wanted to let you know, in case we didn&amp;#039;t reach each other tomorrow. And you know I get flustered when I feel like I&amp;#039;m disappointing Jackson, so I thought it might be better to put it in writing. I mean, he wanted me to come and see his school and meet the adviser at the school paper, and something else, which I&amp;#039;m forgetting right now\u2026oh, right! He wanted me to meet your friend Sam. He loves that guy. I&amp;#039;ve never heard him talk about any man that way before. I wish he would talk about my guy that way, but I&amp;#039;m glad he&amp;#039;s talking about someone that way. You know what I mean? Boys really need a man around that they can look up to.&amp;quot;  I shook my head, confused and overwhelmed, and unsure which part of her monologue to address first. &amp;quot;That actually isn&amp;#039;t why I was calling, Michelle. I haven&amp;#039;t seen the e-mail yet\u2026&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Oh.&amp;quot; She paused. &amp;quot;Then what&amp;#039;s going on?&amp;quot;  I proceeded as carefully as I could to tell her all about Jackson&amp;#039;s internship \u2014 what a great opportunity it was, what Jami had shared with us about the details \u2014 and I went on to give her Jami&amp;#039;s direct contact information so she could speak to him directly about anything I left out.  &amp;quot;Clearly,&amp;quot; I said, &amp;quot;this is your choice. Yours and Jackson&amp;#039;s. But before you spoke to him, I just wanted to let you know where I stood with all of this. I am here for whatever you guys decide. I love having Jackson here, and I&amp;#039;d be happy for him to stay here, if you decide you want that.&amp;quot;  She was silent for a minute. &amp;quot;This was always supposed to be temporary. He wasn&amp;#039;t supposed to become your burden. I mean, I know he is exceptional, but he is still a huge responsibility.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;One that has always felt like a blessing,&amp;quot; I said.  &amp;quot;I know my kid. He has always wanted to be a journalist. Always. This is a dream come true. I can&amp;#039;t take it away from him.&amp;quot;  I cleared my throat, staying quiet.  &amp;quot;He hated being here, you know. Even over Christmas. Did he tell you that? Did he tell you how much he didn&amp;#039;t like it here?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Not exactly,&amp;quot; I said.  &amp;quot;Well, he did.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;But you know how teenagers are,&amp;quot; I said. &amp;quot;He&amp;#039;d adjust. If you decided that he should be with you in California, he&amp;#039;d adjust.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Is that your way of saying you think he should come back here?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;That is my way of saying that you are his mother, Michelle. And I love Jackson very much. But I don&amp;#039;t want you to think I&amp;#039;ve forgotten that for a second. You get to choose what is best for him. And if you decide that it is staying in New York for this internship and continuing here with me, I will be thrilled to have him. But if you decide you need him to be with you and this new family you are creating, I will do everything in my power to help ease that transition.&amp;quot;  I heard Michelle clear her throat. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m going to need to think about all of this, okay? I&amp;#039;m going to need to talk to Jami and Jackson and get a handle on this whole thing. But my instinct is that doing right by Jackson means letting him stay with you. Letting him continue as he is. Maybe we can figure it out so he&amp;#039;s in California for the summer. Maybe that&amp;#039;s best.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Okay,&amp;quot; I said.  She paused before speaking. &amp;quot;You make me feel lucky, Liz.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;How?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Because of you, I think Jackson is having a better life. That&amp;#039;s all we want for our children, right? For them to have the best of everything. You are helping to make that happen.&amp;quot;  I felt tears in my eyes. &amp;quot;Thank you.&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Is he still awake?&amp;quot; she asked.  I looked into the hall and saw his bedroom light on. &amp;quot;It seems that way. Would you like to talk to him?&amp;quot;  &amp;quot;Yes,&amp;quot; Michelle said. &amp;quot;That would be good.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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