When I was 22, I was recovering from an illness and at odds with my family, so I needed a place to stay. The parents of my high school friend, Mary Mols, offered me the third-floor bedroom in their Snyder home. It had been Mary’s room, but she moved away to attend college. I loved that room. Mary had papered the walls with covers from the New Yorker. From the window, I looked out onto the peaceful, tree-lined street below. I thought I was being given a place to stay; I didn’t yet understand I was being taught how to live.

Nan L. Haynes pays tribute to a mentor who was also a close friend. 

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