"It was gross," Kate agrees. "His knuckles were all greasy and there was this big grease stain on the wall where he'd thrown the turducken, but my mom, being like, totally cool somehow, didn't even transition or anything. She just like... I don't know, passed the green beans or something."

And it wasn't better, not by any means. Max wasn't magically made happier or less stressed, her mom hadn't suddenly been cured. Kate's own life had still been all up in the air, but somehow it had been simpler. Their life was exactly what it was and no amount of freaking out would ever change that.

"And the next day they left," she says. "I was left with my brother Marshall and they went off and hopefully everything got worked out. I don't know what happened to them next, that's where my memories sort of just cut off."