week three: small pleasures

Sunday: Sleeping in until the sun was high in the sky after staying up late, watching movies with the puppies. And a thunderstorm so surprising it woke us up again and again. Pressing our noses against the screen next to the orange tabby as the rain came down in sleeting buckets. Then, gardening, pressing small seeds into the earth, anticipation of what will grow this year.

Monday: The joyous news of a phone call: an interview with the Local High School. Knowing I'll miss This High School, but also knowing those two hours I might gain back from commute time would be a blessing both on my heart and on the environment. Mother Earth must be pretty crabby at K and myself for our gas guzzling ways. Also, the start of a project with my baby sister, a talented photographer. I expect to learn a lot from her.

Tuesday: Decorating my once-lost planner with flower cut outs from glossy magazines: ranuculas, peonies, dahlias. Favorites. Learning how to breathe again--deep, from the stomach, covering anxiety with peace. An email in the in-box waiting, two weeks away and we'll have a writing group with this poet.

Wednesday: A writing marathon with my students, returning to the page again and again. A quiet night at home, even with Zephyr back, cone-headed. Spotting what appeared to be a gray wolf on the way in to school this morning, a quick flash across the highway, making eye contact as it vanished into the brush.

Thursday: Writing poetry, learning how tricky watercolor can be, going to bed early so I can be ready for a morning interview.

Friday: Not eliminating myself in the interview, feeling good about it in the early morning rain. Crawling into bed with my book, falling asleep not long after. An email from a favorite poet, a decision to help each other write again, to help each other be the poets we're supposed to be. The thrill of anticipation of poems in the mailbox, of finding ways to critique and create as we once did. Using each other as a barometer for discipline.

Saturday: The day of Emily, meeting her good friends, celebrating her upcoming marriage in a shower and bachelorette party. Playing Girl Talk and having my hair braided. Eating fajitas and talking about taking care of our bodies. Enjoying frank conversation, being a quiet observer among a wonderful variety of women, all there to celebrate a new close friend of mine. A great thunderstorm in the distance, brilliant snaking lightning keeping me company on the drive home.