Chapter 16 - The Day My Mother Chose Between Her Children
The real test came at Thanksgiving.
Not because of turkey.
Because Eric arrived late.
He looked terrible.
Mom noticed immediately.
Old Diane would have rushed toward him.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Eric."
He rubbed his face.
His car needed a transmission.
He didn't have enough saved.
I watched Mom.
So did Dad.
Everyone understood what this moment represented.
Mom opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
Finally:
"What are you going to do?"
Eric looked surprised.
"I don't know."
"Can you take the bus to work?"
"Probably."
"Can your employer adjust your shift?"
"Maybe."
She nodded.
"You'll figure it out."
That was it.
No checkbook.
No credit card.
No sacrifice.
Eric stared.
Then laughed softly.
"Therapy really changed you."
Mom smiled.
"I'm trying."
Later, while washing dishes, she cried.
"I wanted to give him the money."
"I know."
"It physically hurt not to."
"I know."
"What kind of mother watches her child struggle?"
I dried a plate.
"The kind who knows struggling isn't the same as drowning."
She looked at me.
"Your father used to say that."
"Apparently he was occasionally useful."
Dad shouted from the living room:
"I heard that."
Mom laughed through her tears.
That moment meant more to me than getting the condo back.
Because property could be restored once.
Patterns had to be interrupted repeatedly.
Mom had finally chosen neither child.
She had chosen boundaries.
May you like
And strangely, that was the first time I felt she had treated us equally.
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