Departure

I can't believe our brother is going. Going. Gone.

I knew this was coming for four years and always thought I was okay with it, but now that it's happened -- sans fanfare, or even farewell -- I feel a little strange. Can I be empty? We hadn't spent more than a week or two together since high school, and yet now I know there will be no more Christmas vacations or Easter breaks -- that from now on, it's whatever the army, and not the school year, dictates.

This is far more troubling than your move to New York, way weirder than Dad's retirement or Lisa's senior year. Our family is definitively split now: will we ever all be "home" again?

xxxAnnie