“Sometimes,” A. said, “you don’t need to be an angel. You just have to keep the lights on.” Katy learned that angels don’t announce themselves. They show up as practices: the habit of offering a seat, the decision to stay and listen, the impulse to pick up a neighbor’s mail. A.’s work was literal — restoring light — but it mirrored a subtler labor Katy was beginning to see in herself: tending. Tending required patience, an acceptance of slow progress, and a willingness to be ordinary.