For all my small, contained emotional outbursts, I'm actually a pretty good sponge for pain. I've always wished I could just take the pain away from the people I love and feel it myself instead. I've gotten a lot of experience in coping and carrying on... and others seem to need a lot more practice. I might cry in bathtubs or traffic or train stations or bed... but I adapt and I sally on.
And while I'm celebrating what is to come, and while I'm confident that everything will be just fine soon, it's hard to take someone twice my age by the hand and say, "You're going to be fine. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and go do something new."
So I speak calmly and evenly and I don't really say anything at all.
Besides I'm not seven years old anymore and I can't fit under my bed.
