Not only had young John not written as much as he thought he had; his mother (who was his true soulmate) was now feeling self-conscious because she had written three letters to his every one. Two perfect paragraphs follow these opening sentences, addressing the situation as John has been led to believe the folks back home are experiencing it, after which he writes:
My daughter refused to accept what she was being told and sat by my side, tapping and singing softly. She sang my Hebrew kindergarten songs, one after another, continuously without pause. These were the songs I sang to her when she was small. She sang instinctively, as if her body knew something before her mind did. As if she understood, without explanation, how to bring her mother back to life.
I once completely lost my voice, on a flight from New York to London, and spent the next week having to communicate through gestures and mime. Without a voice, it became difficult for me to express what I thought or felt or needed. For humans, the voice acts as a fundamental tool for communicating a spectrum of meaning, emotion, and intention to others.