The reaction of irritation, disbelief, with what can only be described as a hint of disdain, he threw at me when a piece of my tooth flaked off

(which inside me head revved up the engine again of my youthful fears and nightmares in which my mouth is all messed up and I have to be social)

told me all I needed to know after all of the trying I’ve been trying………..I don’t want to grow old with him.

The tooth showed the truth:

Irreconcilablely Broken.

I may be falling apart, getting uglier as I age, and slower than a turtle in the evenings, however, I am too strong to be afraid of alone.

(My mom just got the results of her liver biopsy. This wasn’t a day to pick a fight.)