Ruth would not read the letter over the phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m coming over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause you\u2019re already trying to decide what I should do with something addressed to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
She arrived twenty minutes later wearing slippers inside her shoes.<\/p>\n
That was how quickly she had left home.<\/p>\n
The envelope sat inside a plastic grocery bag.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy is it bagged?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI panicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou thought it was evidence?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour family has changed me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fair.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s handwriting covered the front.<\/p>\n
Ruth Ellison.<\/p>\n
Private.<\/p>\n
No date visible.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you open it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt belongs to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why bring it here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I think it\u2019s about you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has not stopped anyone before.\u201d<\/p>\n
She glared.<\/p>\n
I smiled weakly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n
We sat at my kitchen table.<\/p>\n
Ruth opened the envelope.<\/p>\n
Three pages.<\/p>\n
She read silently.<\/p>\n
Her face changed almost immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
She kept reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cRuth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cQuiet.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hated being told that.<\/p>\n
Apparently she knew.<\/p>\n
When she finished, she placed the letter flat.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked at me for a long moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked me to stop you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving in with Graham.\u201d<\/p>\n
The room went still.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat makes no sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote this before he died.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not become sarcastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s sustaining me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth pushed the first page toward me.<\/p>\n
\u201cRead.\u201d<\/p>\n
I hesitated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s addressed to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m giving permission.\u201d<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
I took it.<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote plainly.<\/p>\n
Ruth,<\/p>\n
Evie is going to want family around her after I\u2019m gone.<\/p>\n
My throat tightened.<\/p>\n
He knew.<\/p>\n
Of course he knew.<\/p>\n
He predicted that Graham would offer.<\/p>\n
He predicted I would accept too quickly.<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote that moving in might be good temporarily.<\/p>\n
But he worried I would make myself useful until usefulness replaced grief.<\/p>\n
I stopped reading.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas asked Ruth to challenge me if I began giving up plans, friendships or independence to make Graham\u2019s household easier.<\/p>\n
He wrote:<\/p>\n
She will call it helping. Watch whether anyone is still asking.<\/p>\n
I covered my mouth.<\/p>\n
Ruth said nothing.<\/p>\n
I kept reading.<\/p>\n
If Evie starts acting like she owes Graham for housing her, remind her that we spent forty-six years building enough for her to stand on her own.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew I would feel indebted.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas asked Ruth to encourage me to return to my own home eventually or find somewhere else if the old house became too painful.<\/p>\n
He asked her not to let grief become permanent dependence.<\/p>\n
Then came a sentence that hurt.<\/p>\n
Do not tell her I asked. She will listen better if she thinks the argument is yours.<\/p>\n
I put the page down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas again.<\/p>\n
Managing.<\/p>\n
Even his warning against control came wrapped in control.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you follow it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never told me not to move in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral times.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were grieving.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you try after?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second year.\u201d<\/p>\n
I searched memory.<\/p>\n
Ruth asking if I wanted to look at apartments.<\/p>\n
Me laughing.<\/p>\n
Ruth suggesting I travel.<\/p>\n
Me saying Graham needed help with the kids.<\/p>\n
Ruth asking whether the arrangement still suited me.<\/p>\n
I had answered yes.<\/p>\n
Every time.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stopped.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I decided your life belonged to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The simplicity of that moved me.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though Thomas asked you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou broke his request.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was dead.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
Only Ruth could make death sound like insufficient authority.<\/p>\n
She continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso because I began to realize his letter had the same problem it warned about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted you to influence me without telling me why.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid that bother you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cImmediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why keep the letter?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI forgot about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I raised an eyebrow.<\/p>\n
She glared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI genuinely forgot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is now a suspicious phrase in this family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of us are actually old.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fair.<\/p>\n
She explained.<\/p>\n
After Thomas died, she placed the letter inside the gardening encyclopedia because I frequently borrowed it from her.<\/p>\n
She intended to decide later whether to show me.<\/p>\n
Then I gave her my own copy during the move to Graham\u2019s house.<\/p>\n
Somehow Thomas\u2019s letter ended up inside it.<\/p>\n
The book went onto a shelf.<\/p>\n
Years passed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really forgot?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I believed her.<\/p>\n
Not because forgetting had become fashionable.<\/p>\n
Because there was no reason for Ruth to lie now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat made you find it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBook donation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were giving away my gardening encyclopedia?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt weighs fourteen pounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t own me.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
Then looked at Thomas\u2019s letter again.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe saw all of it coming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPine Harbor?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMe becoming useful?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGraham managing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy guilt?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward his photograph.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why didn\u2019t he tell me directly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth gave me the look.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause he was Thomas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Exactly.<\/p>\n
He could see the problem in extraordinary detail.<\/p>\n
Still struggle to surrender the method.<\/p>\n
That made me love him.<\/p>\n
And want to shake him.<\/p>\n
Again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat else does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth folded the last page.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to share?\u201d<\/p>\n
She hesitated.<\/p>\n
Good.<\/p>\n
Her choice.<\/p>\n
Then she nodded.<\/p>\n
Thomas wrote that Ruth was the only person besides Daniel who reliably told me when I was unbearable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds romantic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was correct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did he ask?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTo make sure I kept my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n
I frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth read:<\/p>\n
Do not become Evie\u2019s replacement husband.<\/p>\n
We both stared.<\/p>\n
Then burst out laughing.<\/p>\n
When we recovered, Ruth wiped tears from her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe knew you too.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote that you collect responsibilities when you\u2019re frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wrote that I collect people.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was Ruth.<\/p>\n
We became quiet.<\/p>\n
After my move to the cottage, Ruth had been there constantly.<\/p>\n
Curtains.<\/p>\n
Furniture.<\/p>\n
Groceries.<\/p>\n
Appointments.<\/p>\n
After her stroke, I had done the same.<\/p>\n
Were we helping?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
Could helping become dependency from either direction?<\/p>\n
Also yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should talk about something,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
Ruth groaned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThomas has been dead five years and he\u2019s still assigning homework.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not his assignment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we rely on each other too much?\u201d<\/p>\n
She looked genuinely offended.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was too fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat isn\u2019t an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
She narrowed her eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate your growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone does.\u201d<\/p>\n
We considered practical things.<\/p>\n
I drove Ruth frequently since her stroke.<\/p>\n
Did she want that?<\/p>\n
Mostly.<\/p>\n
Was I doing it when she preferred independence?<\/p>\n
Sometimes.<\/p>\n
She came to my cottage unannounced.<\/p>\n
Did I like that?<\/p>\n
Usually.<\/p>\n
Not always.<\/p>\n
We established the ridiculous idea that sisters could also call first.<\/p>\n
Ruth objected.<\/p>\n
I insisted.<\/p>\n
She agreed only if emergencies and fresh bread were exempt.<\/p>\n
Accepted.<\/p>\n
Then she asked, \u201cDo you need me less now?\u201d<\/p>\n
The question hurt.<\/p>\n
\u201cDifferent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not less.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat am I now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always your sister.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat seems insufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n
I understood.<\/p>\n
Usefulness again.<\/p>\n
Both of us.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want to be needed?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth looked down.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo do I.\u201d<\/p>\n
She sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exhausting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do normal families talk about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTelevision.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s try that.\u201d<\/p>\n
We did.<\/p>\n
For ten minutes.<\/p>\n
Then Thomas came back.<\/p>\n
Not literally.<\/p>\n
Ruth picked up the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are you going to do with this?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy first instinct is archive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you want it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I may burn it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWatch.\u201d<\/p>\n
We went outside.<\/p>\n
Ruth held the pages over the little metal fire bowl I used for garden debris.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny objection?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Thomas\u2019s handwriting.<\/p>\n
A year earlier, I would have treated the letter as sacred.<\/p>\n
A final message.<\/p>\n
A piece of him.<\/p>\n
Now I understood something different.<\/p>\n
Not every word the dead left behind needed preservation.<\/p>\n
Not every plan deserved authority.<\/p>\n
The meaning could remain even if the paper did not.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo objection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth lit the corner.<\/p>\n
The flames moved quickly.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s careful handwriting curled black.<\/p>\n
For one second, sadness hit me.<\/p>\n
Then peace.<\/p>\n
Ruth watched the pages disappear.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019d be furious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019d be relieved.\u201d<\/p>\n
She considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the ashes cooled, Ruth said, \u201cI\u2019m hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMake eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMake your own eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonal growth has gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n
We laughed.<\/p>\n
Later that afternoon, Graham visited.<\/p>\n
I told him about the letter.<\/p>\n
His face fell.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad predicted you moving in?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd me making you too useful?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically.\u201d<\/p>\n
He rubbed his face.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate how much he saw.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe missed plenty.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLike what?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis own methods.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid the letter say anything about me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot directly beyond the arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have enough letters.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAgreed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then he asked, \u201cDid Ruth follow Dad\u2019s instructions?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe decided my life belonged to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is available in limited doses.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked toward the garden.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you think Dad knew you\u2019d become unhappy with us?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he feared it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t he tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tried.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chest letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat arrived late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham sighed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent so much time blaming ourselves for not seeing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe none of us could\u2019ve seen everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one can.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sentence mattered.<\/p>\n
Retrospective understanding can become another form of control.<\/p>\n
If only we had known.<\/p>\n
If only we had said.<\/p>\n
If only we had acted.<\/p>\n
We kept trying to rewrite the past with knowledge we earned later.<\/p>\n
But none of us had possessed it then.<\/p>\n
That did not erase responsibility.<\/p>\n
It simply made perfection impossible.<\/p>\n
Before leaving, Graham mentioned Paige had started interviewing for a supervisor role at work.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think?\u201d<\/p>\n
He smiled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said she\u2019s not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGood.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou enjoy uncertainty too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI earned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He laughed.<\/p>\n
After he left, I opened my desk.<\/p>\n
Inside were fewer documents than before.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019s ledger.<\/p>\n
Daniel\u2019s note.<\/p>\n
Graham\u2019s letter.<\/p>\n
A few photographs.<\/p>\n
No secret instructions.<\/p>\n
No stacks of final wishes.<\/p>\n
That emptiness felt healthy.<\/p>\n
Then I noticed one envelope tucked beneath the advance-directive binder.<\/p>\n
My own handwriting.<\/p>\n
I stared.<\/p>\n
Months earlier, after my hospital scare, I had written letters.<\/p>\n
One each for Graham, Paige, Owen, Chloe and Melissa.<\/p>\n
Not secret letters.<\/p>\n
I had emailed everyone where documents were.<\/p>\n
But these paper letters were different.<\/p>\n
Personal.<\/p>\n
Emotional.<\/p>\n
Things I had not sent because I thought they might be more meaningful after I died.<\/p>\n
I picked up Graham\u2019s.<\/p>\n
On the front:<\/p>\n
For after I\u2019m gone.<\/p>\n
I almost laughed.<\/p>\n
There it was.<\/p>\n
The family pattern.<\/p>\n
Waiting for death to say what living people deserved to hear.<\/p>\n
I carried the envelopes to the kitchen.<\/p>\n
Opened Graham\u2019s first.<\/p>\n
Most of it was unnecessary now.<\/p>\n
I was proud of him.<\/p>\n
I loved him.<\/p>\n
He did not need to earn my approval.<\/p>\n
Why was I saving that?<\/p>\n
I called him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI wrote you a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m reading it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCome over tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShould I be worried?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I called Paige.<\/p>\n
Then Melissa.<\/p>\n
Owen and Chloe would be there with their parents.<\/p>\n
That evening, everyone crowded into my cottage.<\/p>\n
Ruth invited herself.<\/p>\n
Fresh bread exemption.<\/p>\n
I placed the letters on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is this?\u201d Paige asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Owen looked interested.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoney?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThen less interested.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were letters for after I die.\u201d<\/p>\n
Every face changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Graham exhaled.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chloe looked alarmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you dying?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEventually.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandma.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot soon, I hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
I passed the envelopes out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI realized I was saving things I can tell you now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nobody opened theirs immediately.<\/p>\n
Then Melissa did.<\/p>\n
That gave everyone permission.<\/p>\n
The room became quiet.<\/p>\n
My letters were not dramatic.<\/p>\n
To Graham, I wrote that being my son had never required being my caretaker.<\/p>\n
To Paige, I wrote that one of the strangest gifts of my life came from her two-dollar joke ticket, but the better gift was the relationship we rebuilt after.<\/p>\n
She cried.<\/p>\n
To Owen, I wrote that intelligence mattered less than curiosity, and curiosity mattered less than kindness when people disagreed with him.<\/p>\n
He rolled his eyes.<\/p>\n
Then wiped them.<\/p>\n
To Chloe, I wrote that money could purchase lessons, supplies and opportunities but could not choose what kind of artist she became.<\/p>\n
She said, \u201cI\u2019m still not sure I want to be an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Melissa, I wrote that I regretted the years we lost and did not expect her to repay reconciliation with closeness she did not want.<\/p>\n
She hugged me.<\/p>\n
Ruth stared.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s mine?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not write you one.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUnacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou live ten minutes away.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n
I handed her bread back to her.<\/p>\n
Everyone laughed.<\/p>\n
No secrets.<\/p>\n
No perfect timing.<\/p>\n
No death required.<\/p>\n
Thomas had taught me many things after he died.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most useful was what not to postpone.<\/p>\n
Ruth would not read the letter over the phone. \u201cI\u2019m coming over.\u201d \u201cYou don\u2019t have to.\u201d \u201cI do.\u201d \u201cWhy?\u201d \u201cBecause you\u2019re already trying to decide what I should do with … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10592,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10548\/revisions\/10592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}