“Did learning about the planets help you understand the universe?” I considered, thinking about our place on this blue dot hurtling through space among all those other planets and stars. I thought about how small we were in the middle of a war, and how small the war was in the context of space. Then I looked at Lysi swimming beside me, and I decided that as long as she was there, I didn’t care how miniscule we all were. “Yeah,” I said. “I guess it did.”
