Ten.Eight Hundred & Sixty-Six

1. 3:32am.

2. I know that it’s just the stress. It’s just because I care too much.

3. I am hours away from sunrise but I begin to plan the day. I’ll go to the Home Depot so that I can buy a microwave, then I’ll head over to check out Story Coffee—because I do love a hipster coffee shop. I’ll journal there before meeting her at the Tasting Lounge to show her the set up. I need to see the setup myself too. Figure out the best way to utilize this space for the influencer event. Then get wine for tomorrow’s tasting group.

4. Also realizing that everything is happening at the same time today. Birthday pick-up for one, birthday drop-off for another, returning home, eating lunch. And there are groceries to be procured at some point today.

5. Irony.

6. There’s exactly one on the shelf and I carry it through to the self-checkout and back to the car in less than 10 minutes. The fastest errand ever.

7. They have very little signage but I found it. Hot chai for here. I find a corner in the back in which I can write and observe.

8. The first thought is always that you should just leave and find someplace better. But the alternative is to stay and do the work, demand better, set a new expectation. And then, if that fails, then you can leave.

9. I walk the grounds while I wait. it’s such a beautiful place, especially in the morning before the crowds begin to arrive. I listen the crunch of the gravel beneath my feet, the sounds of the crew preparing for a wedding, the scratch of the leaves as they tumble across the parking lot.

10. Like Water for Chocolate.