The Weight of a Promise

A promise costs nothing to make and almost everything to keep.

Vieng promised her grandmother she would finish university.

In her second year, the family workshop began to fail.

She could have left quietly, and nobody would have blamed her.

Instead she worked nights and studied on the bus.

Her grades suffered before they slowly recovered.

At the graduation, her grandmother said only four words: "I knew you would."

Some obligations are not burdens; they are the shape of a life.