Goldstone is a place Sully recalls through her mother’s work and the office where she spent long stretches alone. In those memories, its significance lies less in a broad description of the site than in the sounds and routines that joined Jean’s professional life to Sully’s childhood—and helped direct Sully toward following in her footsteps.

Setting and Sensory Details

Sully’s recollection fixes on a particular office at Goldstone. She remembers the snap of plastic cards against a plastic desk, the groan of the air-conditioning, and muffled voices coming from the control room. These details make the workplace vivid against the blur of much of her school life: the office, rather than a general picture of childhood, is what remains crisp in her memory.

Sully’s Childhood Memories

Jean taught Sully to play cards alone as a way to stay occupied. Sully spent hours playing in her mother’s office, where solitude became part of the routine. The memory resurfaces when Sully sees the deck she and Harper used to play with, and wonders whether she will ever again be able to laugh freely or exchange their silly banter. The cards connect a recent intimacy to an older practice of keeping herself company.

Other memories gather around the office: mornings at the kitchen table listening to Jean read newspaper headlines, and nights driving out into the desert. Sully remembers being proud of Jean and never resenting the time her mother’s work took from lessons in swimming, riding a bike, or cooking. When Jean received a promotion, Sully understood it as the result of their shared hard work and sacrifice, not as a prize competing with school achievements.

Work, Family, and Vocation

As a child, Sully admired Jean more than anyone else. Once she understood what her mother did, she wanted to follow her example; Goldstone thus stands in her memory at the beginning of Sully’s own professional direction. Jean’s work also shaped the story Sully was told about her absent father: Jean described him as brilliant and devoted to work too important to leave room for a family, and urged Sully to be proud of his calling. The remembered workplace therefore carries both pride in public service and the personal cost through which Sully learned to understand it.