“Horrible,” I said. “I don’t have any essay ideas. I’m not sure I made the right choice coming here.”
“Me too!” she replied. “I’ve been so anxious about it.”
Theresa was anxious? And she told me?
As we talked, I was astonished to find so many common anxieties with a stranger. By hiding my problems from people, I’d blocked myself off from any empathy or help for too many years. Honesty with all my new graduate school friends, I decided, was worth a try. It was time, after twenty years of detention, to free Applesauce Girl.