Do you know how it feels to watch joy return? Do you know, after a locked-knee-clenched-fist life, how it feels to let your grip go? To feel your hands extend outwards again, palms up? To bend down and kneel on the floor? Do you know how it feels to have your life back?

At my elementary school we had a huge playground.  Though, I suppose it wasn’t actually just a playground. Really, it was a huge field and there were two playsets on it and there was a track that circled the field.  That day was the mile run in gym class. I ran as fast as I…

I’m sitting here in Lisbon. Outside, on a step, and I’m watching. I’m watching these people walking past me—how they dress, how they walk, their expressions, their voices. And then I watch what’s around them. How low the sun is here. The way it almost seems to meet the horizon of the trees. And I…