At 54, I Moved In With a Man I Barely Knew So I Wouldn’t Be a Burden to My Daughter

music. Turn it off. Normal people don’t listen to that kind of stuff.”

The words landed like a slap.

Normal people.

As if my taste, my preferences, my memories attached to these songs were somehow defective or embarrassing.

I turned it off without arguing.

And then I just stood there at the stove, stirring sauce in complete silence, feeling something hollow continue reading …