I hadn’t wanted to go home, because I felt like a liability, a story that came with a warning label. As I rode the train home with Jay, I realized that my parents had replaced the flurry of activity that surrounded Kathleen’s arrival with a hug for Jay and an invitation to get to work as an offering of normalcy. The scrapbooks had stayed put away and my mother had instructed everyone to just be cool. They were expending the same amount of energy not to put on a show. As if to say, “This is home and you’re welcome here as you are.” I think it’s important to note that that takes work: family
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