2:00 a.m.

Cleaning the kitchen while waiting for the oven to preheat. I hear only myself and the

Avocado.

The braver choice is to be vulnerable.

Knocking them off the list, one by one.

But also, I just miss them.

A brisk walk before lunch. Another chapter of the book plays through my ears. I try not to slip on the wet rocks.

She asks me if I know what two things that cause high blood pressure. “Caffeine and stress!” I say. She laughs. “That’s true. I was thinking of some other things.”

He’s home from baseball already. Sick. 101 fever. I guess we shouldn’t have made him go to school. “He has the weakest immune system,” observes the youngest. I wonder if he’s one of the long haulers. Or maybe it’s just a lack of sleep.

Sore back. I blame the hills.