Born Today?

There are debts that have nothing to do with money and everything to do with the care you accepted when you could not return it, the patience someone extended when you were learning, the quiet presence offered during months when you had nothing to give back. These debts accumulate differently than the ones with payment schedules, and they carry a different kind of pressure. You feel them most at moments like this one, when the year asks you to take inventory of what you owe and what has been owed to you. The uncomfortable truth is that some of these debts were never meant to be repaid in kind, but you have been carrying them anyway, adding interest that was never charged. The year ahead will show you which debts are real obligations and which are old guilt you can finally set down.