[ SECRET POST #3490 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3490 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 52 secrets from Secret Submission Post #499.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

My example

[skeletal_history]

Background:

It's 2001. I'm 23, my parents are in the middle of divorcing, and --completely coincidentally-- I am reading Anna Karenina. My parents are very similar to Anna and her husband Karenin, and I was just like their son Seryozha when I was little, and as self-aware as I think I am, I somehow don't consciously notice these parallels. Karenin seriously is just like my dad (post-separation personality sea-change and all), and unsurprisingly, Karenin is also my favorite character.

One night, I'm on the subway, reading a chapter that focuses on 8-year-old Seryozha and his relationship to Karenin, and it's vaguely reminding me of myself and my dad ("vaguely" only because I'm still oddly clueless about the real-life parallels), and then I read this one sentence (paraphrased):

"Seryozha felt that his father spoke to him like he was some other little boy -- a good little boy like the ones in fairy tales, not like him -- and he didn't know who that little boy was, but he desperately wanted to be him."

Like an assailant in the dark, that sentence knifed me in the ribs, and 3 milliseconds later I was full-on ugly-crying on public transportation. That was me. I felt just like that, as a child and as an adult, but had never seen the feeling expressed in words that way before, and it was a genuine emotional blow.

[There was an old man sitting across from me on the subway car, and he asked me if I was all right. I pulled myself together and said, "I'm sorry, I just read something..." He gave me a little smile and said, "Ah, I know that feeling."]