My Beating Heart

It turns out to be more easily broken than I'd realized.

I’ve spent the past few days — what I can remember of them, at least, which truthfully isn’t much — wanting nothing more than to crawl into my family’s arms and rest. In a thank-god twist of fate, my beloved cousin Carrie has been visiting from Canada, so I’ve been able to do that: Just lay my head on her shoulder, letting my breathing even out while ou…