not long after

the darkness fell

upon us,

i came up with

an arbitrary goal…

wear them one day 

longer than

her. 

but this wasn’t the

first time i let

some unspoken goal

determine my behavior. 

no,

giving myself

a personal challenge that

eventually becomes

a near obsessive compulsive disorder,

this is a problem

i’ve always had.

like that time

as a kid when

i decided that everything

had to be done

an even number of times.

or that time

i wondered how

long i could go without

drinking soda,

(six years, five months and twenty five days).

but there’s nothing magical

about any of this. 

about 947 days,

so 743 it was.

she would have been

surprised that i’d made

it this long 

with them.