Letters to Charlie: Oops, I'm Debilitatingly Sad

Dear Papa,

I should be behind a cash register right now, ringing up $14 dresses and $9 earrings. Instead, I’m sitting at my computer, in my office, trying to divert emotions from my tear ducts into my fingertips.

I left during the first half of my shift. I thought I would be OK enough to work today, and for the first hour I still believed I was. Then the second and third hours rushed by in a flurry of sweatshirts and barcodes and “how are you?”s that made me want to jump out of my skin as I responded in excruciating, customer-service-approved falsities.