Do you ever stop to think about the things you’re not? Or maybe catch yourself talking (out loud to someone else or silently to yourself) about those things you aren’t? I have since some of my earliest memories, and I don’t think it’s all that uncommon, either, though what those things are can vary significantly. And I’ve been thinking a lot about all those things I’ve not been in my life after a recent—rather unexpected—experience.

In the fall, I was contacted via my website about giving...