India, Jan. 24 -- I've never had a sense of direction. In a family where everyone knows where they're going, I'm the one who gets lost. When my son Charlie was small, he would listen as I outlined the day's itinerary-grocery store, library, post office-then interrupt.
"Mama," he'd say, "I have a better way."
And he did. He was five, and already knew where he was going.
That memory returned last June, when I met him for a long weekend in Dublin, Ireland, a city that rewards wandering. It was the first time we had traveled together since he had become an adult. Not a drop-off. Not a logistical handoff. Just the two of us, moving through a city and into a new phase of our relationship.
We both arrived on the Friday before Dublin Pride: I b...