Today's room begins in a doorway, with the people who ask if they are in the way before they have taken off their coats. I am, more often than not, one of them.

From there, a hard little word: jealousy, and the ordinary ways it turns up at a family table. The versions of us that other people learned how to love, and why they may keep them. The movies, and the courtesy a life does not offer. Something taught early in recovery, and what craving has to do with the need to be understood. A keeper's rule about walls, lamps and warmth. And a little packing.

A question for you: the next time you feel the urgency to explain yourself, for whom are you doing it?

IN THIS ROOM
0:00 Cold open: the doorway
1:09 The first room: the versions they prefer
5:15 The second room: no alternate ending
8:12 The third room: the hunger beneath it
11:10 The fourth room: the house has a foundation
12:42 The fifth room: evidence that we were there
15:12 The close: a second cup

READ THE ESSAY
https://averylanemaxwell.com/podcast/the-versions-they-prefer/

THE KEEPER'S BOOK
Come In. It's Already Warm. is out on Thanksgiving.
Signed pre-order: https://galena.house/reader/buy/?slug=come-in-preorder
The book and the Kindle edition: https://averylanemaxwell.com/come-in/

MORE FROM THE HOUSE
Every episode and its film: https://averylanemaxwell.com/podcast/
Letters from the Desk: https://averylanemaxwell.com/letters/
Still, by Design.: https://averylanemaxwell.com/still-by-design/

A note from the house: this is a personal podcast. Avery tells these stories as he remembers and understands them, from his own life and perspective. When other people wander into them, he protects what belongs to them.

Come in. There will always be a second cup.

Written and told by Avery Lane Maxwell. Come In. Stories from a Keeper. Galena House Audio.
© 2026 Galena House LLC. All rights reserved.

The last Sunday Room from Frisco, and the first one spent entirely on Avery's side of the family.

When his aunt Pam made pancakes, he sat on the counter, right next to the stove. Pam turned seventy this week; the book he wrote about making room for people is out in the world. So this Sunday goes back to where the idea came from: the two elevations a boy learns a family from, up on the counter with Pam and down on the shag carpet at Christmas on Maley Road, where his great grandfather kept everyone company from his side of the room. His grandmothers, who take him in, in the present tense. A hard year with people he loved at work, told in the same voice as everything else, with the sentence he wishes he had had then. The Thursday a woman named Ms. Betty put a card in his hand across a bar in Yellowstone, and the whole second life that came out of calling the number. An old friend's face after nine and a half years. And a cobbler that is his own: stewed apples, a brown butter oat top, a corner piece served first to Pam.

The Sunday question: somebody made room for you once. Tell one small story about that person this week to someone who will never get to meet them. If they are still around, tell them what it was like on your side of the door. Write to avery@averylanemaxwell.com and say how you would like it held. Nothing becomes part of Galena House without permission.

From the kitchen: the corner of the cobbler. Stewed apples on low with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, a pinch of salt, lemon peel and a splash of cider, twenty minutes covered, five uncovered, finished with butter and vanilla. The top: three quarters of a cup of rolled oats, half a cup each of flour and brown sugar, half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of salt, six tablespoons of browned butter. Clumped over the fruit, baked at 375 for twenty five to thirty five minutes, until it bubbles at the edges. Sit down for your share.

Come In. It's Already Warm., the keeper's book, is out on Thanksgiving. Signed copies from the house's own door, and the Kindle edition now: averylanemaxwell.com/come-in

This episode is also a film. Watch it at averylanemaxwell.com/podcast

Keep the lamp on: the house is kept by the people who listen to it. The Patron Circle is at averylanemaxwell.com

Every episode, and the films: averylanemaxwell.com/podcast · the letters: averylanemaxwell.com/letters · the kitchen: averylanemaxwell.com/kitchen

A note from the house: this is a personal podcast. Avery tells these stories as he remembers and understands them, from his own life and perspective. When other people wander into them, he protects what belongs to them.

There is a kind of person who keeps the house for everyone else. Who makes the coffee before anyone comes downstairs. Who leaves the light on.

Come In. is the house of Avery Lane Maxwell: this podcast, Stories from a Keeper, essays read aloud, scored and filmed, and told quietly, to one person at a time; the keeper's book, Come In. It's Already Warm., with maps, seventeen plates, and recipes for your own kitchen, out Thanksgiving with signed copies from the house; and Still Here., five readings and their songs.

The film: averylanemaxwell.com/come-in/film

Come in. It's already warm.