Dad’s Kitchen Laugh

My dad could make the whole kitchen laugh without trying.

He was not a loud man, but he had a way of saying one quiet sentence at exactly the right time. Sunday mornings were coffee, toast, the newspaper folded wrong, and him pretending not to listen while everybody talked over each other.

He has been gone five years now. I still catch myself wanting to tell him small things that would have made him smile.

This Vermont hex is for his laugh, and for the kitchen that still feels too quiet without him.