My ‘Home’ Is The Family I Chose

Photo: Denise Ko

A few thousand miles away, my boyfriend is probably pulling himself out of the ocean water and onto a dock in the late afternoon sun. He’s probably using the last of his strength to unroll that heavy wetsuit from his shoulders and squinting at his phone to check the time. If it was a regular day, he would be looking for a text from me, letting him know whether or not he needed to pick up his son from school.