Little shoes in the hallway.
Cartoons in the family room.
Juice boxes in the trash.
For those first months, I thought grief might not swallow me whole.
Then, slowly, I became inconvenient.
The calls got shorter.
The visits became occasional.
Sunday dinners disappeared one by one until nobody even mentioned them anymore.
The first Mother’s Day after Richard died, they sent flowers and a printed card with all their names already signed.
The first birthday I spent without him, Laura sent a text.
“Happy birthday, Mom. Love you.”
That was it.
No voice.
No visit.
No knock at the door.
I made excuses for them for years.
They were busy.
They had jobs.
They had children.
Maybe the house hurt them because it still carried Richard everywhere.
His jacket in the hall closet.
His tackle box in the garage.
His handwriting on recipe cards and file labels.
But after a while, excuses weigh more than loneliness.
