I found out some startling news yesterday about someone I knew 20 years ago. It’s startling enough that it has occupied my mind for 24+ hours, even taking up space in my dreams.

I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t think it’s my right to talk about it. But mostly I don’t know how.

I had this long post written about how this news reaffirms my atheism, but it was mostly offensive and I have enough readers and friends who profess some kind of faith that I figured it was rude to publish it. I’m not aiming to make people upset here.

Suffice to say that my entire understanding of the human existence has been shaken a bit. It’s striking to me: how two lives that start similarly enough can take such incredibly divergent paths.

I am grateful for everything.

And, finally, this, from the Paris Review:

The little things that you saw with a child’s eye and that will never go away. That’s what consciousness is all about. – Derek Mahon