The Dreamer's Pen

Driving to work this morning in a full-blown rainstorm, visibility low, stress high—and then my nose decided to betray me. Out of nowhere, a nosebleed. Not a gentle drip. A massacre.

I couldn’t pull over. Just me, the freeway, and blood pouring down my face like I was in a horror movie. I reached into my glove compartment one-handed and found… an old COVID mask. That thing soaked through fast, but it was all I had. I used it to press against my face and keep driving like I wasn’t falling apart inside and out.

By the time I parked, my car looked like a crime scene. I sat in the rain for a minute, breathing, thinking—sometimes this is just life. Chaos hits, you don’t have what you need, but somehow, you keep going anyway.

We really do just show up, clean up later, and hope no one notices the metaphor.