I watched my son walk out of the house and close the door with enough force to rattle the framed photographs hanging in the hallway. I told myself he was upset and would eventually calm down.
I told myself it was only a disagreement.
I was wrong.
For the next several months, Michael barely spoke to me.
He stopped coming over for Sunday dinner. He stopped answering most of my calls. When I left a message, he responded with short, clipped text messages that sounded more like communication between business associates than a conversation between a father and son.
I tried to reach him.
I tried to understand what was happening in his mind.
Once, I called his wife, Jennifer, and asked whether everything was all right.
“He’s under a lot of pressure at work,” she said. “Give him some time. He’ll come around.”
But there was worry in her voice.