The kettle clicked off and I realised I had not sat down once all morning

Dear Delyara, I had made tea, packed lunches, found a missing charger, signed a form, replied to one work message I should not have opened that early, and reminded everyone in the house of something they had already forgotten at least once. Then the kettle clicked, and it hit me that my body had been moving for hours without ever arriving anywhere. I stood with the mug in my hand and felt that quiet, ordinary sadness women are expected to absorb without comment. Not because the morning had been terrible. Because it had belonged to everybody before it had belonged to me. I drank the tea standing up. That felt like the most honest ending the morning could have given itself.