Articles

People used to say it admiringly. *You’re so laid-back. Nothing bothers you, does it?* I collected versions of that sentence for years — from colleagues,…

In every family, every friendship group, every office, there’s one. The one who copes. The one who steps up when it all goes wrong, who knows where…

There are two of you. You know this already, even if you’ve never said it out loud. There’s the daytime one — patient, composed, generous. The one who…

I used to wake up tired. Not occasionally — every day. Coffee didn’t touch it. Rest didn’t fix it. Weekends of catching up never caught anything: I could…

As a boy, I was the one who left his bag somewhere. Who missed the bus home. Who sat on the school bus with a song going round in his head, somewhere else…

You picked it up to check one thing. You can no longer remember what it was. That was — you glance at the clock and feel the small lurch — an hour ago.…

There was a version of me — and it lasted for years — who would leave the house hungry and needing the bathroom rather than be a minute late for someone.

“How are you?” “Fine.” It’s the most automatic exchange in the language, and for most people it’s harmless. But for some of us, “fine” isn’t a pleasantry.…

You finally sit down. The jobs are done — or done enough. The evening is yours. And for about ninety seconds, it’s lovely.

You know who’s tense before they’ve said a word. You feel the mood of a room from the doorway. You catch the flicker on someone’s face mid-sentence — and…