I Smiled at My Family and Felt Far Away

Dear Delyara, I was there. Physically present. Answering. Smiling. Participating. Still doing all the visible things that make a woman look involved in her life. And yet, somewhere inside, I felt far away. Not from love. From myself. As if I was acting out the part of a woman in an evening while some more fragile, more truthful part of me had stepped further back to avoid being overused by one more hour.