Ten.Five Hundred & Seven

1. I slept another full hour past the alarm.  

2. Towels and pillow cases. The woman working the self-checkout is extremely patient and helpful.  

3. John Mayer Live album from so many years ago. I’m back in my red Dodge Intrepid in The Cook Out drive-through.  

4. It’s hard to sing with a mask on.  

5. Toilet overflowing. Waves of blue water and tissue rolling onto the floor. The panic.  

6. I clean the kids’ bathroom and then mine. Toilet overflows again. Panic.

7. At the table, hunched over a bowl of chicken tortilla soup, I declare that I’m done plunging other people’s poop.  

8. I am now mopping the floor. I spend the majority of my time cleaning up after others. Sometimes it feels like a waste of life. How do I shift this workload?  

9. But always return to gratitude.  

10. He leaves. I finish folding towels still hot from the drier, vacuum our bedroom floor and then smudge each room before hopping in the shower. 

10.1 Solitaire and a glass of Hahn Pinot Noir while the sauce thickens.  

10.2 Schramsberg sparkling wine. Conversations about what makes us uncomfortable.