Half of you was somewhere else

Half of you was always somewhere else. Counting how much was left. Timing the next break. Half listening while you planned your exit. Laughing a beat late at the joke. Nobody could tell from the outside. You couldn't either, until it stopped.

You know a video call on bad wifi. The face freezes mid sentence. The words land a second late. The person is there, sort of. Present, but not all the way. The cigarette kept your life on bad wifi and billed you for the connection.

Now the signal is clearing. Conversations you're all the way inside. Evenings with no meter running. Attention with nothing skimmed off the top. The world didn't get sharper. You got more here. God made this world with a lot of detail. You're finally close enough to catch it.

Spend that attention on purpose today. Pick one person and give them all of it. Phone face down. Look at them, not past them. Ask a second question instead of waiting to talk. Breathe a word first. Keep me here, all of me. All of you, right here. That's the prize.