Ten.One Thousand & Forty-Nine

1. Chilly. More than chilly. Cold.

2. Those itty-bitty snails. The garden hose in the way. There’s no way they make it over. Then again, who am I to underestimate them?

3. Don’t drink all the coffee.

4. The sound of rain beating against the leaves.

5. “What’s an elective?” “I just want to continue to do online learning.” “We’ll talk about it. For now, let’s just do the work.”

6. But really, what’s he’s asking for is what I’ve been wanting to offer to him, specifically, for so long. And though I finally have the stamina, now I have traditional work. Can I do my traditional work in non-traditional ways? What could it look like? Have I just not tried hard enough?

7. I go over the list. Cross out the items. Review the list again.

8. Back to beer.

9. The just-right amount of sunshine and breeze and quiet.

10. They say that they’d like to try homeschooling for real. I tell them that it will look more intense than what they’re doing now because of COVID. They say they still want to do it. They like being able to work at their own pace, in their own time. They like the freedom.

11. Maybe this is the next edge.

12. There is time.