Become a Book Nerd
When you’re not reading books, read our newsletter.
By @Madison
It’s just beginning to get dark
When we finally get around to eating dinner.
We continue to talk and laugh as the evening goes on
Fireworks lighting up the sky and our smiling faces
As we function like a normal American family.
Izzy is not the poor young woman who got saddled with her crazy stepsister’s baggage.
Alex is not her smitten boyfriend who’s stuck waiting for her to commit.
I am not the troubled foster kid who is secretly knocked up.
For now, we’re three nameless, carefree people
Our neighbors too preoccupied with their own celebrations
To judge us as we carry on with ours.
Reveling in this fact
I give myself the permission to indulge for once
Taking two loaded hotdogs
Several helpings of potato salad
And a huge chocolate cupcake.
Enclosed in our perfect white picket fence
We eat, drink, and are merry.
For the first time in weeks
My existence is not consumed by worry.
When you’re not reading books, read our newsletter.
Join the conversation