I hadn’t been able to sleep on the eve of my departure, so I got up at five o’clock and wandered the house. I took a last look at my childhood bedroom, bidding goodbye to those pink walls, bookshelves, and old favorite posters. Running a hand over the wooden nape of my bass, I said goodbye to it, too. I said goodbye to the dining room table, where we’d shared countless meals as a family through the years, and to the frozen flower beds of my mother’s garden.
