Rolling Down Hills, and the Climb Back to the Top

When I was little, I loved rolling down hills. It was thrilling and exciting to lie down at the top of an incline, make my body into a straight line, then bump bump bump bump flop flail boink my way down to the bottom in a mess of giggles, hair, and grass stains. I’d get to the bottom, run back to the top and start again. Lather, rinse, repeat until I’d made myself so sick, all I could do was lie on my back and watch the clouds until my stomach settled. It was good.

I don’t know what happens after we die. I know it’s comforting to believe that we’ll be reunited with loved ones. I know it is satisfying to believe that bad people will be punished. I know it is psychologically validating to believe that we are more than just the sum of our small lives, and…