I don't know if this even counts as a confession, it's kinda stupid, but I still feel weird about it. I just turned 20, I’m in college in the city, but I went back home this weekend to my parents’ farm. My mom really wanted me to help with some stuff, not like, serious farm work, just moving some boxes in the barn, helping clean out the old tractor shed for storage, whatever. You know, grunt work. I usually don't mind, it's kinda chill, and my mom always makes good food. Plus, I don't get paid much doing my freelance gigs, so it's a nice break from trying to find the next thing to work on. So I was out in the barn, wearing an old t-shirt and jeans, trying to move this REALLY heavy box of old tools. My back was killing me. My mom came in and she didn’t even see me at first, she was talking on the phone. Then she looked up and saw me struggling with the box. She like, squinted at me for a second, still on the phone, and then just pointed at another stack of boxes and kinda nodded. Like she was telling me to move those too. She didn't say anything, just pointed. And then she went back to her call, not even really looking at me. And I dunno, it felt… weird. It was like she didn’t even know it was me. She just saw someone working, someone who was supposed to be there, doing stuff. Like I was just another one of the guys who sometimes comes to help out on the farm. Not her son. Not me. I know it sounds dumb, she was on the phone, she was busy. But it kinda stung. I even kinda half-waved, just to see if she'd recognize me, but she just turned away. Like I was just part of the background. I ended up just moving the boxes she pointed at, and then later, when she was off the phone, she was totally normal, asking about school and if I wanted pie. But the whole time, I kept thinking about it. Like, does she even see me? Or am I just… a body that can do chores? It's not a BIG deal, I guess, but it just made me feel… small. Like all the stuff I’m doing in the city, trying to build my own thing, it doesn't even register. I'm just a farmhand to her. And I dunno what to do with that feeling. It's kinda stuck with me.