WHEN I STOPPED BEING USEFUL: A MOTHER’S JOURNEY BACK TO HER OWN LIFE

I answered.

“Happy day after Thanksgiving.”

“That depends,” Linda said. “Did you survive yesterday with Rebecca’s sweet potatoes?”

“There were no sweet potatoes.”

“What happened?”

I drove silently for several seconds.

Then I told her.

Not everything.

Just enough.

When I finished, Linda said nothing.

That was one of the reasons I loved her.

She knew silence could be more respectful than instant advice.

Finally she asked, “Where are you now?”

“Following a moving truck.”

“A moving truck?”

“I moved out.”

Another pause.

“Maggie.”

“Yes?”

“Where are you sleeping tonight?”

“An apartment in Old Town.”

“Do you want company?”

I looked ahead at the truck carrying pieces of my old life toward a place I had never seen in person.

“Yes,” I said.

“I think I do.”

The apartment was smaller than it had looked online.

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