I answered the message before making it into a disaster

Dear Delyara, A message with the wrong tone, or no context, or one line that could mean several things, and I would leave it there while my mind built stories around it. By the time I answered, I had usually already lived through five imaginary versions of what it meant, and none of them were kind. This time I felt the pattern starting and interrupted it. I opened it. Read it. Answered it. It was ordinary. Of course it was. That’s why it mattered. Because I gave reality the first turn instead of fear.