Against all odds, the world is still here. And so am I. But it’s more clear than ever that my own body is declining–rippling, thinning, loosening…softening. How many years have I worked for that softness?

I’ve been trying to rid myself of the darkness and walk ever closer to the light. I’ve seen that light. I know it’s there – always pulsing

On the morning the war began, we got two kittens. Brothers, who had spent the entirety of their six-months of life as strays, living...