The last few days sucked.

Sure, there were small moments of warmth and laughter scattered throughout. I was glad for each of these, briefly, before being swallowed again by the sucktitude.

Remarkably, I’m grateful for all that suck. Hours of it. Days of it.

But how could that possibly be?!

In my tumultuous, trauma-filled childhood, I often–quite reasonably–feared for my life. I became very, very skilled at reading people’s emotional cues and responding accordingly, which could sometimes save...