I am the sliver of you where God lives. Remember that story? The one where those men tried to hide God where no one could find him? They tucked him in nooks of the human race. I know you are reading this and trying to outthink it. You want to say that God lingers in your little pug Edith. That too is true. Let’s not over analyze the situation, Jennifer.

I cringe at being cliche, but this is life and death. More eloquently said, this is the scuffle between paintbrush and trigger.

You ran to those fields in Auvers-sur-Oise, saw where your Vincent took his life. Maybe the easel stood slanted that day. Perhaps he didn’t possess the desired shades of blue. Or his heart ached for Marguerite. The crows swarmed. A revolver swathed in turpentine stained muslin. He pulled it out and placed it against his chest the way you have stuck those needles in your arms.

It was not a matter of choice.

You have been tethered to Vincent for years, romanticized his struggles, but the truth is, you are now three years older than he was when he took his life and you have been taking your own life for years now. You are just as sick as Van Gogh. The difference is that you are a mother to three little girls.

Perhaps initially there was a choice, but in some haze you don’t recall, you tumbled across a line and there you have resided in heroin’s cocoon of delusion. There is an enemy in this story. Your mother thought it was the drugs. You thought it was the world. You rebelled against it. But the villain was never the world. It was and is your very own mind trying to kill you.

Jen, your brain is a lying bitch.

It seeks to tell you that you chose to thieve these recent years from your daughters, but you know better. You must forgive yourself the way you do Gwynnie when she fibs, Kathryn when she bites, or Evelyn when she does that pterodactyl scream that machetes through your ears.

They know not what they do. They are brand new, just as you are on this day.

This is where you take the road Van Gogh couldn’t. This is where Vincent put down the brush. This is where you put down the rig and pick up the pen. Love isn’t in the brain or the heart. It’s lodged like a sparrow in the throat, and for too long, you have been voiceless.

The time is today. Just think of the possibilities. Impasto the world with words again. There are songs to sing, stories to tell.

Let go. Let go. Let go.