I Left the Groceries in the Hallway

Dear Delyara, I brought them in, put them down, and just looked at the bags. Milk. Bread. Apples. Pasta. A few things for school lunches. Nothing dramatic. Nothing heavy enough to explain why I couldn’t face putting any of it away for ten full minutes. But that’s what happened. I think sometimes people imagine exhaustion as lying down, sleeping, crying, collapsing. Mine often looks like standing in the hallway with shopping bags at my feet, fully aware of the next small task and emotionally unable to begin it yet. Eventually I did put it all away. Of course I did. Still, those ten minutes felt honest. I was not lazy. I was used up.