Saturday, December 10, 2022

grey skies, glassy river

At's coworkers S and H, who had worked until 11 pm, came over after their shift to strategize for their first bargaining meeting on Monday. For fuel, I made them tea to go with the iced cookies we had. They worked until nearly 2:00 am--their quiet murmurs punctuated by shouts of laughter. How hard and joyously these young people work! 💗

At and I were up again around 6:00 am to make breakfast tacos. Then I dropped At off at the bus for Detroit where they're meeting up with friends to go see Connor O'Malley. Back home, Nu took today to "decompress." 

I did too. I took a long ramble by myself, started rereading Anna Karenina, did yoga with Big A (tech-y: via Portal and a Mirror lesson and doggy with guest appearances by Scout and Huck on my camera), soaked, snacked, made a sweet-potato-apple-"sausage"-spinach soup for dinner. Then on to student meetings and grading.

Let me be weird: At got home late last night after Nu had already gone to bed, so I thought Nu would want some At time at breakfast, but Nu decided for a Saturday sleep-in instead. Fair. Also, At was in a hurry this morning and didn't say goodbye to Nu. Understandable. The thing is... ever since I read Cheryl Strayed's Wild, where the siblings become estranged after their mom dies, I've been hit by the fear that my kids will lose touch with each other as grownups if I'm not around. 

How's that for a nice morbid thought? Ok... back to grading.

Pic: Grey skies and a glassy Red Cedar River; I love the curving tree in the foreground.

3 comments:

StephLove said...

I like that image, too.

Good luck to At with the organizing.

Sounds like a nice restful day, except for the fretting, I think that's a natural worry, especially with a big age gap.

Nicole said...

Oh, I'm sorry you have those worries. I too sometimes wonder what would happen if I suddenly died, and it's a weird morbid thought, but I just wanted to say that you aren't alone.

Your decompression day sounds really lovely, and good luck to At!

maya said...

Thank you, Steph and Nicole for the good wishes for At.

(And for letting me know that it's widespread--even if not normal--to fret. Steph--really loved that word here.)

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