But You Seemed So Happy: A Marriage, in Pieces and Bits

by Kimberly Harrington

It was the fault of two people who believed in marriage but had little idea what they were in for. Which, come to think of it, is true of most everyone. I didn’t know myself. He didn’t know himself. We didn’t know each other. Unbelievably, startingly, this is the truth. And, somehow, twenty-five years later, it still is. And, somehow, it still worked for a long time anyway. I have come to this understanding: None of us will ever truly know the people we think we know so well. Our best friends. Our siblings. Our parents. Our partners. People are fundamentally unknowable. Even our children, people we have made. When all is said and done, we tell ourselves a story about who we think we are. We tell ourselves a story about who we think other people are. Their flaws, their motivations, their innermost thoughts and desires. We prefer our versions. We understand our versions. But all that aside, what we all have in common is this: Please see me, please care about me.