Woman returned early from a business trip and found her father kneeling on the floor cleaning, while her mother-in-law mocked him: “This house smells like the countryside.”

“Has that man finally stopped his scrubbing? I cannot stand how the entire living room smells like a roadside tavern right now.”

I heard those words the instant I stepped over the threshold of my own house, my heavy suitcase suddenly feeling even heavier than it had when I dragged it through the airport. I had returned much sooner than …