Instructions For Processing

Play a few rounds of Words With Friends. Watch the season premiere of Lost. Prepare Sweet And Spicy Asian Pork in the crockpot (doubling the prescribed amount of chili-garlic sauce). Gaze at the rice as it boils and consumes the water. Fold laundry. Wash dishes. Sweep. Fire off a few cleverly worded Tweets. Update your Facebook status. Reply to emails. Complain about the government. Check the mailbox. Check it again. Think about going to the gym tomorrow, or the mall, or the park, or the beach, anywhere but here. Feed the dog. Pick up toys. Do some pushups. Do some more pushups. And some more. And some more. Push until your fingernails feel like they're going to pop off. Reply to some emails. Respond to some comments. Ignore the phone. Turn on the weather report. Pretend to look for something in the car. Toss the rugby ball with your son. Dance in circles with your daughter. Have a martini with your wife. Hug them all. Try not to think about the words: "oh my god! oh my god!" and what prompted them, the email saying that he'd died unexpectedly, he was your age, he had a wife and a young child and a baby, he was your cousin, he was your friend. Fail. Scream at the Universe.