Emotions, at least the ones I have been experiencing in the past couple of years, aren't covered by single words. I don't believe in "sadness," "joy," or "regret." It just seems like such a banal oversimplification of what is a plethora of deeply complex sensations. I'd like to have at my disposal complicated hybrids, train-car constructions like, say, "the happiness that attends disaster." Or: "the disappointment of seeing a fantasy come to fruition." I'd like to show how "limitations of mortality brought on by aging family members" connects with "the hatred of mirrors that began as I turned thirty." I'd like to have a word for "the sadness inspired by seeing my friends fail" as well as for "the excitement of having a whiskey after a long week." I've never had the right words to describe my life, and now that I've entered a new chapter, I need them more than ever.
