“Mask” can have all sorts of meanings, literal and figurative. When we are sad or in pain, sometimes we cover those feelings so as to not make people uncomfortable. Or the pain itself can become like a mask that obscures who we truly are. As for me and this photo, I have a literal mask which delivers 100% fast flowing oxygen to help ease the pain of cluster headaches. The mask makes an illness which has been totally invisible very obvious. Oxygen is serious business. But I don’t know, honestly, how well it’s working. I think I have to have it delivered at a higher rate than 10 LPM. Masked or unmasked, the pain makes me who I am.