Hello, again!
writing again
Hello!
After a long and unintentional break, I’m here and back to regularly scheduled yapping!
Two weeks ago, my parents were in town, and when I thought I’d sit down and write this letter, I got busy watching movies with my mom and completely forgot.
They were here for four days, and we: went to farmers markets and flea markets and food halls and saw a play and mini golfed and went to the zoo and played board games and ate froyo and shopped and walked all over the city. On their last day, Mike took Adam to some heavy metal concert (that sounded weird as hell), and my mom and I watched The Holdovers and then we watched My Old Ass and we planned to order dinner but ended up not being very hungry so we ate random leftovers and snacks and it felt very middle-school-sleepover coded. And then, all of a sudden, it was morning and time to drive them to the airport and the apartment was quiet again. I always feel weird when they leave, like they shouldn’t be going as far away from me as they are.
Then, the next week, I was in Branson, Missouri, because I was lured into going on a work trip with Adam and his dad with the promise of going to the tiger sanctuary nearby, and on Tuesday, when my plan was to get my own work done at the nice hotel room desk, a huge storm passed through town and the whole conference Adam was working got moved into a windowless room and I got called down from my wrap-around, floor-to-ceiling-window work space to sit with the other wives and yap (watch a lot of videos of their grandchildren). By the time all of that was done, I’d completely forgotten about writing this and had to focus on my actual work.
All that is to say, when I noticed, later in the week both times, I decided I actually didn’t need to stress myself out with the adult homework I’ve created for myself, so I didn’t write! But here I am, back to it, remembering!
The time with my parents was so nice. The trip to Branson was weird, but good. We got to see a bunch of tigers and lions and a leopard. And two days after getting home from Branson, we got back in the car and went to Wichita to visit Adam’s brother and sister-in-law and our niece. We got to play with her toy kitchen and go to the park and read books and make silly faces. And our friends who are getting married in Wichita in the fall came to town while we were there and I got to go bridesmaid dress shopping and we went to lunch and, after the family went to bed, Adam and I got to go out to a martini bar with our friends.
Life has been busy and full and fun. And I haven’t thought about writing a poem for one single minute of the last few weeks. So, I spent the day hoping, in a moment between other things, inspiration would strike, and I’d write a poem in a few seconds and I’d love it, but here I am instead, giving in, putting a few lines down, and moving on. But at least I remembered to try! A draft:
THE INTERNET SAYS ROUTINES ARE GOOD so I try to stick to mornings, to breakfast, to Tuesdays. What is a pause if not hope, if not a way to come back. Another answer reworded, plucked like fresh light.
