you've been given all the pieces
1:04 pm, Monday, Feb. 28, 2005

She wrote it all down. It was the first time she'd seen those words written by her own hand for the intent of someone else's eyes. Sealing the envelope was hard but nothing compared to dropping it into the mailbox.

But instead of the regret she'd expected as soon as the paper left her fingers, she felt free. She knew the words would at best accomplish nothing. At worst those three words would ruin everything. But it was action. It was the first step out of the limbo she'd put herself in for so many months. And the first step is always a doozy.

So now, with the accomplishment pegged somewhere between nothing and complete ruination, she was finally seeing things as they were. Free of the hard little thing she'd held so tightly in her heart, she was more complete.

Someday, she hoped, she'd be telling the story to someone who would smile and be glad that things hadn't been different. She was finally feeling a little bit of that herself.