Later that night, we sat around the table again.
The same way we had in 2006.
The same way we had in that photograph.
Six grown children laughing and talking over one another.
For the first time in years, the house felt alive again.
At one point Emily found the old photo album on the shelf.
She pulled out that picture.
The one with the caption.
“My 6 kids and me, 2006.”
We all looked at it quietly.
Then Daniel smiled.
“You know what, Mom?” he said.
“What?”
He pulled out his phone and took another photo.
Me sitting at the same table.
Surrounded by the same six children.
Only now they were adults.
He showed me the picture and said, “Looks like the house is loud again.”
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