Diary, “Doppelgänger,” 11 Aug. 2024

You were him, waiting to be born.

He feels like a doppelgänger. Another man, you think when you think of him, this human being who lived the first half of your life, a name you no longer connect with when people speak it. He died years ago — a figurative, emotional death, a melodramatic conceit, you might say, but no less painful for being a metaphor. Letting go of him means you can ack…