Ten.One Thousand, Six Hundred & Thirty-Eight

1. First morning light.

2. Sunshine turning everything green and brown.

3. The store is unusually quiet for this late in the morning.

4. I look at the little girl in the stroller and think about the days when my own were that small. “Remember when the most expensive thing you had to get was diapers? Now we’re looking at $400 baseball bats.” We laugh.

5. French onion soup and a baguette. We’ll never go back again, but it is tasty.

6. Inside, I am losing my patience, but trying to remember that none of this is his fault.

7. We all agree to the goals.

8. Back to our monthly calls.

9. I drive down and meet them at the house. “This is a really nice hoop,” she says to me. The men and I talk Saint Helena sports and their old coaches and the current teams while we fill the base up with water. The sky is clear and you can see every star. Her eyes are also glowing.

10. One more day.