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RELATIONSHIP
After a breakup forces
him to sell his beloved
family home, Bobby Box
wonders if living apart
together is the way to go.
SO
FAR
AWAY
I REMEMBER STANDING on the front lawn of my
house as the realtor talked about how easy it had
been to sell the property. Mom and Dad were
there packing the last of my belongings into large
cardboard boxes while, for me, the realtor’s speech
slowly distorted into the teacher’s voice from a
Peanuts cartoon. At 26, I’d proudly purchased my
childhood home from my parents to start a life with
my then fiancée. I can still picture the growth chart
drawn in with a Sharpie inside my closet and the
sapwood sunroom that Dad had built to shield me
(a redhead) from the sun’s rays in the summer. But
things didn’t go as planned.
Soon after my fiancée moved in, my happy mem-
ories were clouded by petty arguments, unwelcome
guests and agitating behaviours, all of which engulfed
our home like a thick fog. The day she moved in—a h