This is for Us

Of Course, You're in Everything

i saw a mother on friday.
dark, warm skin
long, jet black hair
a little girl clinging to her leg
she talks with the coach
a wide smile on her face
holding the girl's tennis bag

i couldn't help but wonder if the daughter's name was lily... perhaps melody?
did she have an older son named oliver? perhaps hunter... better yet, was he orion?
did he love the books and stars? did she love the sun and meadows?
did the parents watch and smile as their children grew?

was her husband sitting at home hunched over a computer
listening to an interview he finished not but hours ago?
would he instantly put his headphones down as his daughter ran into his office?
embrace her in her package of joy and laughter... maybe even a little sweaty?

would they laugh as he carried her to the bathroom to let her shower.
would he check in on his son at the kitchen table, frustrated at a grammar page he had for homework?
would the mother look at it and look to her husband, completely perplexed?
'isn't that correct grammar?'
the husband would smile, reading it aloud and pointing out the missing comma at the end of a phrase in the middle of a sentence.
'the comma acts like a parentheses'

the mother and father would stand as their son now understood.
the husband would try to go to his office before his wife gently held his wrist.
'take a break?'

the husband would try to say something, but nothing would come out.
he held up his finger, running into the office.
he typed a final sentence before returning to the kitchen, helping his wife make dinner.

dinner for
the loving mother
the busy father
the determined son
the sporty daughter...

or perhaps their family is nothing like this at all.
maybe that mother is just a mother with her daughter after a tennis practice

and i just miss you.

Drive - Charlotte Cardin