The Snag

The Couple carried a ball of light between their hands, and each minute spent with the other felt like gold. The feathers of a new relationship had their feet barely touching the ground as they walked side by side. But <that dreaded, anticipated word> there were two boxes that they always carried on their backs.

One of the boxes was the Past. Most events fit neatly into it. Sometimes the narrative and point of view, mood, and other story elements would change with personal growth, or perhaps with memory distortion. There were always personal items kept in the box that the couple both decided (sometimes ambiguously) to not share with each other. Usually this box did not affect their delightful Present. Sometimes it got too heavy and items had to be confronted and exposed, but it had already happened, and the two had already decided on unconditional love and acceptance of the other. The Present was complicated enough to navigate through as is.

The Future was a more tedious box. Sometimes it couldn’t even hold a box shape. It would expand and contract in unpredictable ways. It was usually light. Forgotten. Sometimes it would bring the couple joy as they fiddled with it between their fingers, and watched it float as they tossed it back and forth from each other. Sometimes it grew too overwhelming. It would drop down from one of their backs, and expand from a box into a maze, obfuscating the Present until both had no idea of how to go forward, and were left with a sense of paralysis. By day’s end, they would move slowly forward, and the box would eventually shrink into something carefree again.

One day, the Future box felt so heavy that the couple had to put it down and rest. After a break and some nourishment, they tried to pick it up again to go along their way, but it felt like it was attached to the ground. When the couple looked closely, they saw that the box was covered in a knitted blanket. They felt along all edges until one of their fingers caught in a snag. Just like that, the couple instantaneously knew what the issue was. The disagreeing ideals that both brought to the table before the relationship fully sprouted. The issue that was pushed to a corner, and promised to be brought up later when the couple was more involved, or when more clarity would come through with time. It was here now, and unmoving. The couple could not ignore it. The finger pulled the snag, and the blanket started to unravel. The Present could no longer hold onto the illusion that it is independent of the Past and Future.