Seventeen Again: The Day Everything Changed

watched the patchwork of my old life shrink be

coming. She was a successful software engineer, a force of n

a, kiddo," she said,

ant, and thrumming with an energy I'd never experie

h never had. I thrived. I joined the debate club, spent late n

ambitious, driven, and didn't expec

mails would pop

isman@loc

t: You

m

ttany is struggling a bit more than we

e

mart@loc

ect:

il

That's good. Things here are... complic

a

pdates. "Berkeley is great. Ve

my old Northwood High yearbook. The page I

handwriting, Kevin had

"It's not the sa

t: "Hope you're having fun! Wish you wer

moment. Then, I dropped

midterm. He was a grad student in computer science, brilliant, funny, and kind.

was building something new, som

uent. Their emails, when they came, were tinge

busy livin

ck in a month was laughable. I hadn't shed

I? I was f