Once you leave…

Today I read David Whyte’s poem “Once Around the Moon and Back.” It’s a beautiful narrative on how mothers say things that subtly launch us into the world.

For me it was my mom telling me what her mother told her when she got married: Once you leave, you don't come back.

My father did not concur. Once I moved out, he was always trying to get me to come back home.

But my mom was clear. No.