Finding Momentum

We sit in the van breath­ing the same air, together in the seven-seater as a fam­ily for the first time in many years. “It’s so weird,” my sis­ter insists, “it’s so weird, grad­u­at­ing.” Four hun­dred fam­i­lies had cel­e­brated her grad­u­at­ing class that afternoon.

My dad looks over the driver’s seat, “How does it feel?”

“It’s a weird feel­ing,” she con­tin­ues. “Like…” The night envelopes her thoughts.

My dad fin­ishes it for her. “It’s like you’ve lost something.”

She thinks for a bit, hes­i­tat­ing, bat­ing her breath, hold­ing her words. Then finally: “Yeah. Like I lost something.”