Question

You’re given a choice. Right now. No caveats, no follow up questions, no fine print. 

The choice is this:

Give it all up. 

Every time you sobbed and every time you peed from laughing. Every moment you felt home somewhere. Every time loneliness was cutting through you like an axe. Every late-night-early-morning-talking-on-the-couch with people who know you. 

Every single memory you’ve made up til now. The first time someone said I love you, trembling in your embrace, the feeling rippling through them to you. When your dad got rushed through the hospital and you ran home from half a world away. The first walk you took with your dog and the day she breathed out. 

Every skill you’ve learned. When your mom taught you how to make pie. The first note you ever hit on a piano in wonder. When your words started to make sense. 

Every friend you’ve made. The one from when you were a child whom you haven’t spoken to in a decade. The one you have said at least one word to every single day for the past year. The one you see three times a year who feels like the holder of your secrets. 

Every future plan you have. That trip with your best friend from college and all the people who made you feel so happy last summer. The concert of your favorite artist that you finally have tickets to. The wedding you’re speaking at. 

Give every inch of you and what made you and who you could become, up in exchange for a new set of cards when you wake up tomorrow. Same age, similar conditions, new skills, new friends, new memories, new career path, new city. Luck of the draw. No cheating, no negotiating, no ifs. Yes or no. 

What do you do?