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[Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/photos/search/perfect/)
She was perfect right up until she was not. Impeccable politeness, impeccable thank-you notes penned in exquisite cursive, flawless grades. She said the proper things at the appropriate volume. Laughing at appropriate times Never showed wrath, never wept in public, never exhibited anything that could not be sold, packaged, and endorsed.
Being perfect is a full-time unpaid profession.Each encounter is a performance review. The perfect individual has auditors, not pals. People testing the correctness of their work. Waiting for the rupture. And she offered nothing for them. Smiled across her father's funeral, breakups, and holiday feasts. Smiled till her face lost how to do anything else.
Then she set the supper afire. Typical error. Human error She stood there watching the smoke detector screech, and something in her chest just gave up instead of laughing it off. She didn't leave a message. Did not need to. The burned lasagna spoke everything: I'm tired.