Familiar kitchen sounds,
the blender’s roar and faucet’s trickle,
ground me here.

Illusory clouds of coffee
sting my nose,
an inescapable reminder
that summer is going fast
that vacation is nearly over.

I swallow hard,
and try to remember
how to not feel like a visitor
in my childhood home.

Maria is about to go back to college. She loves being home, but every once in a while, she’s overwhelmed by the understanding that things are changing.