The other night I slept on my arm awkwardly and woke to find it entirely numb. Being still partially involved in a dream, I found special significance in the sensation that the limb was entirely separate from me, telling myself, "This is the first time I've ever felt my own hand!"

"Maybe that's what I am." I thought. I'm someone's arm, cut off from circulation so that it feels like another's, but our nature is the same, and feeling each other we appreciate ourselves.

The experience stuck with me: later in the day, for a brief instant, I could have sworn I saw myself as a child, playing in the street.

-Evan