100 Word Feature
School Hours
I have coffee with a friend whose youngest child just started full-time school. Afterward, she sets off for the pool — alone! Only herself to strap into the car, to change. No tantrums, no complaints — bliss!
At three, the school bell rings. As we embrace our little loves, she tells me how, post-swim, standing in the shower, she felt an intense loneliness. All those years, we long to be alone, just for one minute, one hour. All those years, our children cling to us, and then we leave them — six hours, five days a week. We leave them and are left.