I missed a call from my mother and didn’t ring back straight away

Dear Delyara, Not because I don’t love her. Because I needed a minute before becoming someone’s daughter again. There are days when every role feels close to the skin — employee, mother, wife, organiser, cook, listener, scheduler, emotional sponge — and the thought of also becoming a daughter with all the old reflexes and emotional choreography that role still carries feels heavier than it should. So I let the call sit there. Not forever. Just long enough for my own nervous system to stop feeling so publicly owned. I rang her back later and was perfectly kind. But I’m trying to be more honest about what certain relationships cost, even when they are loving ones.