the third book the idea the future that's could of been something else

*If only I had known back in 2006 or 2008 what I would later come to understand about the club. If I had realized how its grip would tighten, how its fees would dictate Josephine’s every move, I wonder if I would have ever encouraged her to join. But back then, the idea of her becoming part of something that could give her a sense of belonging seemed so right. We didn’t see what was looming on the horizon—how the club’s influence would eventually steal away the spontaneity we once shared.

There was a time when Josephine would show up at my door without warning, without needing permission, as if it were still just the two of us. She’d come to my home, her presence a constant, a reminder of the days when we could be together without schedules or restrictions. But after she joined, that changed. The visits became fewer, more structured, dictated by the rigid framework of the Special Olympics. The same club that was supposed to empower her slowly started to isolate her from everything else.

I can’t help but imagine how different things would have been if the club had never come into her life. She would still be showing up at my door without needing permission, as carefree as she once was. But instead, we find ourselves here—me, writing this story, and Josephine, somewhere still caught in the web of a system that never let her truly live freely.*

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