“Did you remember to eat today?”

 

A ping pong ball battering around the mind. Dragging left, right, centre, up, left, down, centre, left, right, left, up.

 

“Sorry I’m late, I left my keys in my other jacket, then realised I must’ve left my jacket in the car so I missed the bus, then I remembered I had to water my plants - I just propagated my own pothos you know - anyway I’m on my period too so, yeah, anyway, sorry.”

 

Coffee, Cigarettes, Concerta, Omega-3s, anything to Bring Blood to your Brain.

 

“Sorry, I interrupted you”, “Sorry, what was I saying?”, “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

 

Leg tapping. Skin picking. Counting down minutes. Heart palpitations. Pinning thoughts. Don’t forget.

 

“We always just worried about you when you were a child”

 

Excess booze, excess sex, excess food, excess talking, excess binge-watching, excess research, excess excess excess.

 

“She’s just kind of… a lot”

 

To-do lists, spreadsheets, post-it notes, phone notes, alarms, calendar reminders. “Supplements”, “call Jim back”, “make Jenny’s card”, ”Dermot socks”, “book Belfast flight”, “remember: less pressure, less judgement, less anger”. Remember, remember, remember.

 

“She’s always just been a bit of a daydreamer”

 

A Ferrari and NO brakes and Motorcycles and Parties and Pole Dance and Acting and Business and Singing and Piano and Barre Class and Dates and Aggressive Dogs and Arguments and 13 Books on-the-go and 16 Tabs Open and Investing and Researching and Tanzania and Germany and Canada and Japan and England and How Do You Do It All and, and, and did you remember to eat today?