I wait for them to let me go, and rush to wipe my eyes, not wanting to break down in front of them, or at all. I’m not that type of guy, and when your parents are hanging on by a single thread, you don’t want to be the reason it frays. My grief has no priority here. I will myself to be the stone wall everybody expects me to be as we part awkwardly. I don’t let myself dwell on the widening emotional gap between us, and I don’t wait for the words of comfort that will never come.
