Are You Sleeping

by Kathleen Barber

But funerary rituals aren’t for the dead. They’re for the living.

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

The world is awfully quiet at three a.m., and that makes it easier to hear yourself. And this is what I’ve realized: I ruin everything. Do you remember King Midas, that mythical ruler whose touch could turn anything to gold? I’m like him, but in reverse. Everything I touch turns to garbage and spoils.

“For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6:14–15.