Monday, January 14, 2019

A nice little list

Mali made a nice little to do list for 2019. Here's mine:

1. Figure out how to do my own taxes
2. Get Sophia ready for college
3. Rehab this broken heel all the way so I can lose these 30 pounds and be healthy again
4. Plant some bird friendly shrubs in the back along the fence.
5. Replace the door to the garage (not the garage door, but the side door to the detached garage)
6. Get two tattoos
7. Have a new roof put on the house. And the garage.
8. Try not to work this summer beyond tutoring, if at all possible
9. Read 12 books
10. Finish my little basement room

A lot of house stuff. One huge big me thing (my heel still hurts after 9 months of healing--I have stamina and ideas and leads as to how to continue to make it better). I think it's possible. I want to be hiking in the mountains at least a little bit when I take Sophia to college.

Now it's written. Now to get started.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Writing

I am in the process of writing a story. Or a book. I guess a book. I just finished the writing and have edited it three times. It's a (barely) fictionalized memoir of my time with the young man who lived with me for two summers and how I tried hard to save him but in the end learned you can only save yourself.

I love this story but I know I'm too close to it so I keep stepping away and then coming back. This afternoon I thought to myself, "my eyes have read these words too many times and I need to find a reader who will be brutal with it."

I have no idea what to do with it now. So it sits in my google drive and I drink tea and watch the waning light of this January afternoon pass into dusk.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Five by Five, Lima Charlie

One time I had to send a text to John's brother--John, the young man who was living with me off and on while I struggled to stay adult and focused on all the important everything. His brother was a vet, had been in Iraq and Afghanistan. I sent him the text and he didn't reply. I sent it again.

He wrote back: 5x5 lima charlie

I hear you five by five, lima charlie.

Loud and Clear. I've been listening and thinking and writing and things seem loud and clear.


I am back here at Euler, Not Venn. I am hoping for good things.

Right now, good things are a bichon poodle hybrid sleeping on my feet and a cup of hot chocolate. Amos Lee in the background. Kids going back to school in the morning. I have until Monday. My son, on his way to bed, asked what day of the week it was. That's a good vacation.