Same As It Ever Was

by Claire Lombardo

Parenthood was a persistent cruelty, a constant, simultaneous desire to be together and apart.

And you haven’t actually told me what your problems are.” “I’ve never been completely sure what they are, to be honest,” she said. “I’m not—an especially happy person, generally. It’s just kind of—who I am.”

during the drive they talked about all the regular boring things that regular boring parents talked about while dating under duress, though they’d both rather have been sleeping or masturbating or watching The Sopranos on separate televisions:

the woman who taught her that everything could be solved, or at least made momentarily better, by a glass of wine or the smell of baking bread.

You’re my mother, ninety percent is being there regardless of whether your kids want you around.