I don't know if this even counts as a confession, more like… a really crappy observation? I mean, it’s not some big secret I’m keeping, it’s just something that happened, you know? But it kinda hit me. Hard. I guess. I was on site, this residential job, nothing fancy, just a kinda humid afternoon. Lifting these… well, *stones*. Big chunky ones for a retaining wall. My back was already complaining, but whatever, that's just Tuesday, right? But then I grabbed this one, a particularly gnarly one, all rough and uneven, and I went to lift it and… nothing. Or, not nothing, but it slipped. Just a little. But it was enough. My grip. It just kinda… gave out. Not completely, I caught it, no one got hurt or anything, thank god, that would have been a whole other thing. But it wasn't like a clumsy slip. It was a *weak* slip. Like my hands just didn't have the same bite anymore. And I’m not, like, *old* old. Fifty-two, sure, but I’ve been laying brick since I was barely out of high school, apprenticed with my uncle, who could lift a small car if he had to. My hands, they used to be like vises. Seriously. I used to joke about it, how I could crush an apple with one hand. Now… I dunno. It was just this quiet little moment, nobody else saw it, I just pretended to readjust my grip. But inside, it was like, whoa. Like a little alarm bell went off, not even loud, just… a kinda sad little *ding*. It’s stupid, right? I mean, it’s just a body thing. Everybody gets older, everybody slows down. But it felt… personal. Like, this is what I *do*. This is what I’ve *always* done. All those years, choosing the steady job over, I don't know, trying to make it as a sculptor or something equally impractical and brilliant. I mean, my art, it kinda withered on the vine, didn't it? And now, even the practicality is, what, starting to crack? It’s funny, in a bleak way, I guess. The one thing I thought I could always rely on, the strength, the sheer brute force of it, is just… kinda… fading. And I don’t know what you do with that, honestly. You just keep lifting stones until you can’t anymore, I guess. Ha.