Summer works like this. Every day small moments cycle like waves within tides, eroding our opportunities on a geological scale invisible from our point of immersion.
I recognize something in the stories... It’s the culture of “I made it” versus the culture of staying behind, the culture of achievement versus the culture of guilt.
None of us has telepathy, and even the most empathetic of us can’t really experience the world as another person experiences it. So we read essays and memoirs.