Dear Mom

Dear Mom,
Does it ever get any easier?
Will leaving start to feel like the end of a visit rather than a long goodbye?
Will hugs and I-love-you’s ever cease to choke me up,
Leave me silent, and abruptly turn me away?
Will my feet,
Wrapped in the boots you looked all over with me to find the right size,
Ever not drag as I approach the door?
Does it ever get any easier?
Or do you just hide it well?
When Grandma comes and goes or the two of you share talks on your phones,
Do you ever wish to say stay?
Do you ever linger just to hear her voice?
Or to feel like times haven’t changed?
Does it ever get any easier?
If it does, is it Dad that makes it so?
Is it knowing you have him there and there will never be a moment you feel all alone?
And if that’s true than what does that mean for me?
When who I am makes that a near impossibility?
Or are all my questions for nothing?
And if I ask will your answer be:
Dear Daughter,
The answer is no.