Then You Really Might Know What It’s Like

This is what it’s like.

I look at a picture of Tom when he was young, and Vera when she was young.

I look at a picture of myself.

I think how I look a little like him, a little like her, and a little like myself.

I think how I’m probably a little like him, and a little like her, and a little like myself.

I picture the three of us together.

I picture people seeing the three of us together.

I picture them seeing us and thinking, that’s Tom and Vera, and their daughter.

I think of it registering, and making sense, and people nodding and moving on.

Think about having a pain, or an itch, or an anxiety.

Think about having had it so long, and it being so low-level, that you don’t think about it anymore.

Now imagine taking a drug, or getting a warm bath, or a professional massage, that makes it suddenly go away, for however long, maybe just for a moment.

For however long, this thing lifts that you didn’t even notice anymore.

You feel what it would be like to live without that.