Our son asked for a stand mixer for his 19th birthday so he could make snickerdoodle cookies, homemade flour tortillas, and these rolls. I don’t know how many times in his too short life he made these rolls, but I know it was a lot.

After loosing him in 2020 our now family of 4 came up with a way of talking about what it’s like to live with loss: It’s like living with a broken arm that will never heal. Some days, we barely feel it. Other days we bump it on something and the pain is fresh and raw and bright. On those days we say to each other, “I’m ok. I just bumped my arm.”

I made these rolls for the hundredth time today.

And I’m ok. I just bumped my arm.