In Columbus

It’s always a shock, those first few hours back here in Columbus. I arrive exhausted yet wound up, and coming into my parents’ house, my dad’s house now, is hard. There are traces of my mom still, around the edges kind of, but her touch is buried under the mounds of “stuff” dad accumulates. No place to sit, no place to prepare meals, no place to unpack, no place for me or my memories. As soon as I get here, I want to leave. It makes me very sad.