My Parents Went to Aspen for Christmas Without Me—So I Rehomed the Dog and Kept the Paperwork

on a ski lift, all wearing matching white jackets that probably cost more than my entire wardrobe. They looked happy, carefree, like a perfect family enjoying a perfect vacation. No one was missing. No one had left an empty space where I should have been.

I didn’t respond. Some messages don’t deserve the energy of a reply.

What Tyler and my parents didn’t continue reading …