Everyone gathers around the table, the one we’ve gathered around a thousand times before. Traditional Haitian dishes await us—fried and barbecued chicken, rice and beans, fried plantains, pasta salad, pikliz. It’s a beautiful spread of food, no doubt. And it’s been so long since we’ve done this. It’s been so long that we’ve all been together. Lovely squeezes my right hand as I look at all the faces, children who grew up right in front of my eyes and I begin to realize that time is even more fleeting than I once perceived.