In Chap­ter XXXVII, the nar­ra­tive unfolds around the pro­tag­o­nist’s fam­i­ly life after a trau­mat­ic event involv­ing Pop­pa, who is grad­u­al­ly recov­er­ing from an acci­dent that left its marks on his mem­o­ry and demeanor. As the pro­tag­o­nist turns four­teen on a bright spring day, the unfold­ing scene is infused with warmth and nos­tal­gia. Mom­ma pre­pares a cake—a reminder of a year ear­li­er when the cake held more sig­nif­i­cance to the pro­tag­o­nist, though now it feels over­shad­owed by deep­er expe­ri­ences.

The pro­tag­o­nist and Pop­pa share a moment on their porch swing, which sym­bol­izes com­fort and con­nec­tion. Their swing, while not grand or beau­ti­ful, rep­re­sents the best of their home, infused with love and belong­ing. The scene is live­ly with inter­ac­tions among fam­i­ly mem­bers: Grand­pa Bom­ba dreams on a chair, while Fish watch­es over their younger sis­ter, Gyp­sy, who engages in her whim­si­cal antics with dan­de­lions.

Pop­pa’s ongo­ing recov­ery is empha­sized; although he strug­gles with mem­o­ry loss, this day is sig­nif­i­cant since he rec­og­nizes the pro­tag­o­nist, pro­vid­ing a moment of joy amidst uncer­tain­ty. Fish pro­vides play­ful push­es to the swing, and Mom­ma, busy in the kitchen, checks in on the fam­i­ly, reveal­ing that Rock­et, the old­er broth­er, is prepar­ing to leave for a sum­mer with Uncle Autry. Rock­et’s deci­sion to leave is tinged with sad­ness, mark­ing a change in the fam­i­ly dynam­ics as he grap­ples with his iden­ti­ty and abil­i­ties fol­low­ing the inci­dent at Sali­na Hope Hos­pi­tal.

Amid the light­heart­ed exchanges, the pro­tag­o­nist reflects on her own devel­op­ment and the friend­ships she has formed, par­tic­u­lar­ly with Will and Bob­bi, who are now inte­gral to her life. Despite the antic­i­pat­ed changes, a secret looms—a poten­tial new addi­tion to the fam­i­ly, hint­ed at by Momma’s writ­ing a recipe on her hand, often for­got­ten amidst the every­day chaos.

The chap­ter ends on a con­tem­pla­tive note, sug­gest­ing qui­etude for now, with the pro­tag­o­nist wish­ing her savvy could man­i­fest her hap­pi­ness exter­nal­ly. Over­all, this chap­ter encap­su­lates themes of resilience, famil­ial love, and the pro­found but often unspo­ken com­plex­i­ties of grow­ing up with­in a vibrant and ever-evolv­ing house­hold.