I hear him saying something quietly, and then I hear the coughing. 3:44am.

I close my eyes and hear the cough again and get up to get him cough medicine. I try to go back to sleep but google cough remedies and double-check COVID-19 symptoms because that is what a worrier does.

I close my eyes but don’t really go back to sleep.

So much coughing.

This morning, a whole family of snails. I watch the smallest one climb the stacked landscape pavers. How slowly they move.

It must be how I chugged that beet juice. I hope it’s just that.

I forgot how time-consuming this particular kind of work is.

I love the parts of our ride where Mt. Diablo is in view. No clouds. Not as quiet. More people out post-lunch? There are new blossoms on some of the trees. A lonely lemon in the gutter.

He asks me if I want the rest of the Syrah. Of course, I want the rest of it.

When the message gets repeated to you over and over and over again, and you realize you just gotta do it. However you can, in whatever small way you can, just do one simple thing to stay connected to it. One simple thing to move it forward.