Gemotions

He held the list up to the light, the faded ink barely visible. Ethan found it amongst his father’s tools, hidden beneath a workbench. Build a sailboat. Learn to play the harmonica. Hike the Appalachian Trail. A wave of disorientation washed over him.

His father, the pragmatic man of industry, had dreams of adventure? A sense of displacement settled over him. He felt an undeniable need for action, to counteract this sense of being unmoored.

Ethan went to the garage and pulled out his father's old tools. He hadn't touched them in years. He started working on the old wooden rocking chair his father had been restoring, sanding the wood until his hands ached. He didn't stop until the sun went down, the workshop the only place that made sense.