– On viewing photographs in the Science Photo Library.
…and we both know how this will end.
Fantasize a triumph as if you’ll win a gold medal. Allow others to devise life plans for you. Permit others to convince you they can beat me. Ignore me for months – until after Christmas, or after your anniversary, or a graduation, or your daughter’s wedding. React in a variety of ways – overeating, imbibing, behavioral excesses, self-pity: Why me? You ask. Why not you? What makes you so special? What sets you apart? You’ll learn soon enough – I may be slow, but I’m never late.
I’ll interfere with your life – once a month, once a week, once a day, then twice, then every night. You will complain, create excuses, worry. If you’re pushed into it, you’ll have a follow-up; however, by then I will have migrated, and I will stay with you.
There are more steps – wallow in denial and anger, bargaining, a removal, a recurrence, your depression. As travelling companions, we have always known how this will end; because, as you may have guessed by now – I may be slow, but I’m never late. You will run out of time. You have had your chance, and you will lose.