I Went to Bed Feeling Like Staff

Dear Delyara, By nighttime, I had cooked, cleaned, remembered, soothed, found, answered, planned, folded, texted, checked, signed, and smiled. Everybody got a version of me they needed. Lying in bed, I didn’t feel like a woman with an inner life. I felt like staff. Like the person who keeps things moving quietly in the background so everyone else can live in a house that works and a family that mostly feels emotionally safe. I know that sounds bitter. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s just honest.