We listen to a book on tape for a few hours, until our brains need a rest, then take turns queuing up songs on Spotify. I bring my old school favorites—Tom Petty, acoustic Eric Clapton, The Innocence Mission—and she slips in a few of our more recent obsessions, musicians like Jason Isbell and Amos Lee and WILLIS. We sing together as the miles whir beneath us, miles and miles and miles from home.
Oh I felt this. I, too, know this unfillable space.
When I dropped my oldest off at college this past August, on the drive home, I texted my dad a message of only four words, while tearing up...
“Now I get it.”
You’re in the thick of it. Make sure to let them go so they want to come back.
Oh man. My boys are only 6 and 3 but this hits home. 🥹