Counting by 7s

Mai watches an acorn survive getting run over by a car, and she gives it to Willow, since she feels that the sturdy acorn represents Willow’s own resilience after the death of her mom and dad. Mai hides the acorn so that Willow thinks she discovered it by accident. After Willow finds it, she comes to believe that the acorn is lucky and that perhaps after the tragic (and very unlucky) death of her parents, her luck is about to turn around. The fact that this acorn survived being run over by a car is particularly significant, as Willow is struggling with her grief over her parents’ recent death in a car crash.

At the very end of the story, Willow plants her lucky acorn in a garden that she has built with her new family of Dell, Pattie, Mai, Quang-ha, and Jairo. The garden represents a culmination of all Willow’s skills and interests, showing how her passion for plants has managed to bring a whole community together. By letting go of her lucky acorn and contributing it to the communal garden, Willow signals that she has begun to move beyond her grief and no longer needs the acorn’s luck to help her. The acorn’s potential to sprout into a large tree reflects how after surviving a period of grief, Willow now has her own chance to grow into something great.