My Visit Home Ami Living

amother

OP ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:40 pm

Can someone explain My Visit Home by Yocheved Klein in last week's Ami Living (September 25)? The narrator arrives back home and everything is the way she left it, except that she writes that her parents were happy to see her and offered her lunch.
Were her parents deceased but she was imagining them there but then it hit her?
Also, I found it confusing that she helped herself to some nosh from the kitchen for the drive home. If no one was living there, how was the kitchen stocked with food?

amother

Apple

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:53 pm

She was keeping her parents home empty and would come back to reminisce. She was keeping the home running, including restocking snacks.

kenz ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:53 pm

Same questions! I assume there will be some clarification in an upcoming issue after many confused inquiries! Obviously they’re no longer there but if they’re both no longer alive, why is the house intact? And why would she have to make up explanations about having gone there to her family? So many questions…

↑ kenz

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 7:54 pm

amother Apple wrote:

She was keeping her parents home empty and would come back to reminisce. She was keeping the home running, including restocking snacks.

Hm, we cross posted. But why was she doing that? It’s so very strange.

amother

↑ OP

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:07 pm

kenz wrote:

Hm, we cross posted. But why was she doing that? It’s so very strange.

Her form of grieving?

amother

Amaryllis ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:36 pm

It was such a macabre and sad story. I guess I took away that I should enjoy spending time with my parents (which I do B”H). But the narrator could use some therapy - I don’t know if it’s healthy or practical to keep up this charade.

amother

Grape ↓

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 8:52 pm

I’m glad you started this thread because I was also wondering about that story.
Something was missing there and it’s very unclear. Couldn’t figure out if her parents stepped out or were no longer alive. Very strange. I thought they would excuse themselves this week and apologize that part of the story was missing.

amother

Babyblue

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:03 pm

From what I understood, is that her parents are no longer alive, and she is keeping the house as it was.
Very sad indeed
Oh and she is I guess embarrassed from her family about this so she isnt sharing with them where she was?

flowerpower

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:22 pm

She goes back to the house which is untouched since they passed when she has moments of grief.

amother

Sapphire

Sat, Oct 05 2024, 10:36 pm

amother Amaryllis wrote:

On a practical level... houses don't usually stay empty. They get sold, rented, cleaned out. I hate to bring in reality here...

Also, what was the point, what message was the author trying to give over?

amother

↑ Amaryllis

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 3:17 am

It kind of reminded me of the movie Psycho when the innkeeper keeps referring to his mother but at the end we see that she is dead and he “stuffed” her and put her in a rocking chair.

That’s how I felt when reading the story. I thought it was edgy for a frum magazine.

Also as mentioned, it’s really not cost effective to maintain an unused house, which is why we don’t see this in real life.

amother

↑ Grape ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 4:05 am

So why did she put money in her father’s sweater pocket?
And why was there still food in the house?

After I read the story I like- huh?
My daughter read the magazine the next day and she put it down and said- I don’t get the story of the lady who goes to her parents house:..

amother

Babypink ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 4:38 am

amother Sapphire wrote:

People having difficulty moving on?

amother

↑ Grape ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:30 am

amother Babypink wrote:

People having difficulty moving on?

Maybe, but it wasn’t clear in the article.

amother

Currant

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 5:55 am

Why do they print such articles? Really didn't get the point. If they're no longer alive, why did she go to the table where they were eating lunch? Why did she put money in her father's pocket?

Why do they write vague stories that leave people confused??

amother

↑ Grape ↓

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 6:00 am

amother Currant wrote:

Either something was missing that tied everything together or they just printed a poorly written story.

amother

↑ Babypink

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 6:17 am

amother Grape wrote:

Either something was missing that tied everything together or they just printed a poorly written story.

She was continuing to do what she used to do for her parents. Holding on. Not letting go.

amother

Offwhite

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 8:59 am

Sounds like the episode in Shtisel where the twice widowed lady goes to her home in Bnei Brak to talk to her dead husbands.

amother

↑ Grape

Sun, Oct 06 2024, 9:04 am

amother Babypink wrote:

She was continuing to do what she used to do for her parents. Holding on. Not letting go.

Maybe …but why describe a scene in the kitchen with her parents and the food they were eating? It wasn’t clear that they were not alive. That’s not how you describe a visit to your deceased parents home. This was not written well as it left most of us scratching our heads.