Call Your Daughter Home

by Deb Spera

“Late starts in life have no less relevance than early ones. In fact, I would argue they have more relevance. Experience in life can only be judged by the obstacles one has to overcome to get it.”

Sometimes the years go by so fast it’s like flipping pages in a book, but a day can take so long a whole life’s gone by before the sun sets down.

Once we’re settled I undo myself. It’s such a relief to take off the hat and gloves. Appearances are so bothersome. There was a time I didn’t have to work so hard to maintain them; youth has its own simple value that we never fully appreciate until it’s gone. I had many proposals when I was young, but said yes only to Edwin. Now I am Dear or Madam, the words of people who look through instead of at.

Spite has stolen years from me.

“Listen to what I tell you,” Grandmother said to me. “If you reach a point in life where it feels there is only dark around you, that’s ’cause there is. You got to find the light. A hole can be a haven, but you can’t stay in a hole forever. What’s dark must come to light. Every person needs the sun.”