Frog in Pot

Like a frog unaware it’s boiling to death because the water is heated incrementally, most days I’m only vaguely aware of my body’s slow disintegration. Except when I woke up last Thursday with excruciating knee pain. People asked: “what happened?” Beats me. I don’t remember doing anything out of the ordinary. I was just living. Medical tests will tell me if it’s something mendable like a meniscus tear, or a new norm like arthritis—a level of background pain I’ll get used to and then live in denial about. Nothing to see here, just a frog boiling in a pot.

Inspired by One Foot In and Man Door Hand Hook Car Door. Image by Shutterstock AI.