My Mother Locked the Gate on Me

”

There it was.

Four words.

No crying could soften them.

“Easier for who?” I asked.

She looked at me then.

Really looked.

Not at the uniform I wasn’t wearing.

Not at the rank she suddenly needed.

At my face.

“He said you made your choice,” she said. “The Army. Being away. Missing things. He said if we kept reaching out, we’d keep getting hurt.”

I almost laughed.continue reading …