Ten.One Hundred & Eleven

1. I sleep in an extra 30 minutes. Maybe it was the manchego that gave me such strange dreams.  

2. I make the lunches and offer fruit loops for breakfast so that I can empty the dishwasher and put in another load.  

3. When I drop them off I put the car in park, run around the rear and hug each one, tell them I’ll see them again on Monday. I feel the pang of mother guilt.  

4. Why is it that when we leave we have to be so accommodating? 

5. The ride to the airport is quiet. I am anxious about my travel. Because I am doing it alone. I tell him that I’m never nervous when he’s with me.  

6. As I inch along in the security line I realize I left my water bottle in the bathroom.  

7. I’m in the middle seat but can see bits of earth through the window. The mountains look like pointy stacks of cheap cocoa powder.  

8. I can feel the accumulation of too much dairy in my gut.  

9. I really hope the three of them are not getting on my plane.  

10. I roll down the window to type the code and then can’t keep my head inside the window. All the stars. I am here.