Ten.One Hundred & Fifty-Seven

1. Headlights from the neighbor's truck. The sound of his tires rolling across the wet pavement.

2. I start to dig out the apples to make a crisp for breakfast but decide it will just be oatmeal for today.

3. Morning pages beside the fireplace. Hot water with only garlic honey because I keep forgetting to buy lemons.

4. I think I hear giggling but I'm going to ignore it because it's only 6:15 and I don't want to talk to anyone yet. I still haven't had my first cup of coffee.

5. I know that next year I want growth. The kind of growth that is really expansive. Life changing kind of growth. 

6. "You have to show up every day."

7. Empty the dryer. Slide basket into the hallway. Load the dryer. Turn it on. Load the washing machine. Turn it on. Carry the basket from the hallway to the bedroom where it will sit until it gets folded. Repeat. This is my work. 

8. I separate the ornaments by color first. She goes in for the vintage Waterford Crystal and I tell her, "no, not this year." I've lost one of those crystal ornaments almost every year. They somehow get swallowed up in the thickness of the evergreen and there's no amount of shaking that's ever brought them back. Those ornaments are almost as old as I am.

9. The star that sits atop the tree is also almost as old as I am and missing a few pieces. I can never get it to sit straight. It's by far the least prettiest thing and yet it's also what makes it feel right.

10. Stranger Things.