Michael

by kerry luo

In the spring, my partner and I travelled to China to help my grandparents move home after raising me for over two decades in America. Michael held space for every layer of the emotional storm that comes with returning to a home you have complicated feelings about. He met my crying spells with warmth and held my stubbornness accountable. He shared what it was like to be there through his eyes. He did not need it to be accessible to him. He wanted my family and me to be fully in our hometown without compromise. He listened closely and thoughtfully to our words and inflexions. He searched for and wrote down translations on his phone. Trying to learn the language was a labor of love on his part that showed me we had built our own home too. There was safety in the space between our ears and our words. In America and in China, he sees my family and me like we were never foreigners, never others.