176/365 02/14/2026

The lists. He had them everywhere: daily planner, post-its, a little notebook he carried for when he didn’t have his daily planner with him. Things to do in the next hour, the rest of the day. Tomorrow and next week. Calendars marked for next month. Summer vacation. Thanksgiving and Christmas. Doctors appointments, travel plans, car maintenance, yard guys. Important meetings and unimportant meetings, a whole year ahead of him. Planned and marked and ready. All future, all the time. 

His present began to slip. So focused was he on the future he began fading in the present. No one noticed at first. His few friends still seeing him when he had energy to leave the house. The dumb daily tasks at his work computer, fingers still solid on the keyboard. But he could feel it himself. Small, unconscious moments when he glimpsed tiny holes in his reality.