And fortunately, when there aren’t any cookies…
… we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin…
… or a kind and loving gesture…
… or a subtle encouragement…
… or a loving embrace…
… or an offer of comfort.

Not to mention hospital gurneys…
… and nose plugs…
… and uneaten Danish…
… and soft-spoken secrets…
… and Fender Stratocasters…
… and maybe the occasional piece of fiction.

And we must remember that all these things…
… the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties…
… which we assume only accessorize our days…
… are, in fact, here for a much larger and nobler cause:
They are here to save our lives.

I know the idea seems strange.
But I also know that it just so happens to be true.