sent from: London, UK. destination: Long Beach, California, USA

My mother returned to Spain today, following my father who left last week. They had been living with us for the past five months. If you had asked me a few years ago if I could imagine a series of events that would lead to us living together in the UK over an extended period, without strife or stress, I would have had a lot of difficulty doing so. Without a doubt Maria’s easy going nature and diplomacy skills helped smooth over any possible rough spots. It is very interesting to live as an adult with one parents, especially when it’s not out of necessity or infirmity. As people whose identity is strongly tied with being parents and grandparents, they insisted on playing that role; hence dinners on the table, laundry taken are of, lifts to/from the train station, even the bed was (re)made. And it is difficult not to fall into the child role and hence regress a little. But maybe that’s ok from time to time – in many ways it feels like a gift. And now they’re gone, we miss them.