I found the birthday candle in my coat pocket

Dear Delyara, One small candle from one child’s school birthday thing, somehow transported home in my pocket without my noticing, then rediscovered when I was halfway through another unrelated task. That’s the shape of my life now: carrying fragments of other people’s days long after the moment has passed for them. The candle made me laugh. Then it made me tired. Because it was one more reminder that I am constantly absorbing the residue of home, school, work, children, moods, errands, plans, and trying to remain one coherent person in the middle of all that. Some days I do. Yesterday felt less convincing.