Uvalde is six months out of its tragedy. Oxford is one year. Those numbers don’t accurately measure the complexity of the grief, or the trauma, that Robb Elementary and Oxford High School students still experience. But on a drizzly Saturday in late November, a group of Oxford High students traveled from Michigan to Uvalde to play with more than 50 kids in Texas. Playing with a younger group of survivors was fortifying, the Oxford students said. For some, it has opened the door to a purpose in life. There’s something simple and sweet about a child painting clown makeup onto a teenager’s face or an off-the-rails round of duck, duck goose. At the Robb memorial, in the heaps of flowers and photos, there are empty backpacks that children will never wear, McDonald’s Happy Meals they will never eat, Play-Doh destined to harden in containers that will never be opened again — talismans of childhood, frozen in time. Now leaning against Robb’s memorial is a small wooden O, for Oxford, painted the school’s signature blue. The students painted four yellow hearts, to signify their schoolmates who died. Visit the link in our bio to hear more from these young survivors. 📸: Sarahbeth Maney, @detroitfreepress