1. The first thing I see is that our flight has been delayed. 

2. The second thing I read is a text message from my mother at 4:24am asking where the nearest hospital is.   

3. We call to extend the rental car and then get dressed. We argue over where to eat lunch as the sun rises. Nothing is even open for breakfast yet. 

4. It’s chilly but there’s finally some sun. Our walk is peppered with “good mornings,” the cawing of the crows. One day this will not be a vacation. 

5. I stop into Copperfield’s Book Store in Healdsburg for a book on wine country, any book. Just something I know I can’t find at home.  

6. Lunch is a paprika broth filled with potatoes and leeks, clams and cod. We dip a little bit of sourdough into the bowl to soak up the juices.  

7. She’s being admitted and so I shoot off a few texts to neighbors to see who can watch the children while Dad visits her in the next town over. So grateful for community. 

8. Her comment makes us smile.  

9. We eat and drink and talk on the plane. Arms entwined. He says it’s like having an extra date.  

10. From the airport we’ll head to the hospital where she is in order to pick up the car. The waning moon is looking in on me through the window of the Prius. We are all silent. But I am hearing all of the noise.