Ten.One Thousand, Four Hundred & Thirty-Seven

1. In the dream, a baby, maybe a year or so old, cuddles up beside me in the bed and says, “good grape.”

2. Yes. It’s going to be a hot one. Can already tell.

3. No one is eating breakfast.

4. Everything is a practice.

5. What is my role in this? Is it really my responsibility?

6. I think of how he says how much he likes seeing me have my camera out in the morning. He knows it brings me joy. I know it brings me joy.

7. He picks out bits of flowers and leaves that are still stuck in my hair.

8. At the end of the day, it’s just freedom that I crave. But don’t we all?

9. We sit in the car and talk. We are very much alike, he and I: long-legged and short-torsoed, emotional but quiet, brooding, sometimes difficult to please, deep thinker.

10. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. He talks about how someone at the top decided to save five cents on each unit to help their bottom line therefore giving us cardboard containers that collapse in our hand while trying to scoop out the ice cream.