Dear Procrastination:

I know we have been together for a long, long time. I remember vividly the first time we had a big fight. I was in 5th grade, and I had this glorious vision of the art project that I wanted to proudly display in the storefront window of our community's then lone mall. It was going to be pretty special for our class to get to do that. I wanted to create a real work of art, full of color and fabric, a design I could see so clearly in my mind's eye. But every time we were supposed to work on it, you'd show up and tell me stories, get me to talk to my friends, even line up the markers by rainbow color over and over... and then the bell would ring and I'd have nothing done.

Weeks went by like this, and on the last work day I stared at a blank canvas, a poster cut into the shape of a head and legless mannequin that I had nothing to dress it with but a few random pieces of string, and markers that I drew haphazard lines with in different colors. When it came time to...