Member-only story
Coming Home To Too Much
When I first left Afghanistan, it was the Mayo that did me in.
The first time I came home from Afghanistan, I had been warned that going to the grocery store might be overwhelming.
It was the Mayo that did me in.
I stood there in the fluorescent lights, staring at an entire shelf of clean, neatly organized mayonnaise choices. Frozen with indecision. Consternating over the vegan or maybe the avocado — or should I go with the classic Hellman’s? Swept away as if it actually mattered.
And I just didn’t understand, why do we need so much?
This week, as the Taliban took control of the Government in Kabul — I drove to the grocery store with my five-year-old. And I started to cry.
My daughter asked me, “What’s wrong?”
I said, “There’s a really bad war in a place I love.”
“Who won?” she asked.
“No one. No one wins in war. People only win in peace.” I said, choking back my tears.
When little girls swarmed our cars as we drove to work and they walked to school — it was like…
