I was looking at my red tie dye t-shirt with my name Nicole stenciled on it.

I find it interesting that N is missing the slant between the two up and down lines.

The C no longer has the top or bottom curve.

The O is simply two partial curves on both sides.

The L is missing the bottom line.

The E is missing the bottom line that extends out and the middle one isn’t that far behind.

So, the only one that stands unscathed is the letter I that represents life. Parts of the whole will be damaged but I, as in Self, will always be there standing strong, and helping to make sense of this uncertain world.

— Nicole Barden 5/10/2021

Originally published in The Orange Journal on Medium