I sit quietly while a friend tells a story from my past. It’s a favor—he’s my surrogate, projecting as I can’t. He wants to share who I was—who he knew—with the faces who see only an emaciated man in a wheelchair. The indiscretions of youth—that’s what he tells. Part razzing, part pride; adventures we shared. Back when we were the same. His words drag up ancient memories, blocked out and forgotten, and I feel as he does: That person is gone. It’s hard to believe that he ever existed. It's a eulogy, but I'm still here.
Nate Methot is the author of A Life Derailed: My Journey with ALS. He lives in Vermont and writes with a mouse and on-screen keyboard. natemethot.com Instagram, TikTok, X @a_life_derailed