setting aside my reading to write this

without guilt or shame. Opened the book to a marker — have not looked in it in years — Chapter 14: All Our Secrets Are The Same (The Writer’s Idea Book).  Looked through it and could go on a tangent. Feel myself moving out of the bubble. I don’t need to find it + be exact. May not even be in this book! The prompt* was something like: You get to the gates of heaven, and an angel asks if you want to go back.

the image has stayed with me

since I read the prompt about 15 years ago or longer. The response was something along these lines:

“Did I not accomplish what I should have on earth? I must have; otherwise, I would not be at THIS gate. Would I have the experience and knowledge I have now?”

“No.”

“Then what’s the point? I would not be in a better position. I could, actually, not be able to come back. Isn’t this, here, where we’re supposed to be? The goal?”

No reply.

“Why would I give it up?”

“Is there something you didn’t or couldn’t do, something you would like to fulfill?“

the answer is and always has been yes