I sat in the car outside home because I needed to belong to nobody for five minutes

Dear Delyara, The house was right there. The lights were on. My family was inside. Nothing terrible was waiting for me. And still I sat there with the engine off and both hands in my lap, looking at my own front door like it was the entrance to another shift. I think that is what some women carry and never say properly. Home is love. Home is also work. Home is also questions, needs, moods, dinner, laundry, the school app, tomorrow’s lunch, someone’s tiredness, someone’s forgotten form, someone’s missing charger. You can love the people in a house deeply and still need a few quiet minutes before stepping back into what they need from you. I didn’t stay long. I just stayed long enough to feel my own name inside me again before I became everyone else’s answer.