Come along, my would-be selves, and let us live a life, if for no other reason than to say, when it is over, that we did.

Think of all the loves and hates we will temporarily adopt, all the troubles and delights we will foster into being, all the laughter and the tears we will cause and quell alike, the days we will wake to and waste, the nights we will dream in and forget, the children we will make and mar, the parents we will thrill and bury, and all the silly things we will wear along the way, the hairstyles and habiliments, the passions and opinions, the banners and boredoms and outrageous beliefs. How mad it all will be. How mad and miraculous and not to be missed.

So come along, my would-be selves, and let us live a life, if for no other reason than to say, when it is over: “How ridiculous and wonderful it was.”

———

Painting (“The Intrigue”) by James Ensor, 1890