The lights are far too bright this year, A neon hum that grates the bone. The table has a hollow chair, A silence where a voice was known. One man is gone, his stories stilled, The other—lost in rooms of mind— A mother with a cup unfilled, Forgetting all she leaves behind. And then the phone that doesn't ring, The son who chose a different shore. The sharpest salt the season brings Is waiting by an open door. To feel it all would be to drown, To let the tidal wave break throu

There is a unique kind of pain when your adult child, once so close, suddenly chooses silence. When the warmth of daily conversations and shared moments is replaced by a cold distance, it feels like a part of your heart has been put on hold. This silence often comes unexpectedly, sometimes influenced by new relationships in their life. As a parent, I find myself in a place of quiet hope, much like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, waiting patiently for my adult chi