The kindest thing I almost did
On regret
I went on social media to do something else, so when a post popped up in my feed that my former college professor had brain cancer1, I didn’t really absorb the information. I saw the ghost of it, the faint, murky outline. I may have even caught the words brain cancer, but I didn’t stop. I clicked away to do whatever (surely) inane task I was there to do, and promptly forgot about it.
“It used to be that stories remained still. Your mother or father might say them, and they were small presents, like coffee mugs or key chains.”
—Aurelie Sheehan, Jewelry Box
It only occurred to me a few months later, while in the grip of a persistent insomnia, to go back on social media and find out if what I’d seen had been true.
It only occurred to me a few months later that I should really write to my former college professor who may or may not have brain cancer and tell her she was instrumental to my s…