October 14: Last Autumn

When I first separated from my husband, I stayed at my parents’ house while they traveled in Europe for 6 weeks, my kids going between this house and his, which had been mine. When they weren’t with me, the house, an old two-family my dad converted, creaked and sighed with the changing temperature. And at night walking up the steps to the second floor, sometimes I just couldn’t, and I would go back to the kitchen for a cup of tea first. I felt so silly rushing up the steps with the cats and wedging the pocket door shut. Once in bed for the night, I never left until dawn. It is not a friendly house to be alone in. But when people are there, the house is happy