Six months after starting the memoir, I called a family meeting. Not for foundation business or crisis management, but for something more important: sharing Lily's letters with everyone she'd written to.

"Why now?" Kai asked as the family gathered in our living room. At fifty-three, he'd grown into the wise protector Lily had predicted.

"Because I've been reading Grandma Lily's letters alone, but they weren't meant just for me. She wrote to all of you."

The room filled with ...