Day 34. 10 small moments

1. I wake up before my alarm. Part of me is proud of myself. The other part dreads the near future of hectic school mornings where he and I pretend we're manning the control tower, and helping navigate departing planes that are behind schedule every.single.weekday.

2. I scramble to get their swim gear ready in parallel to rushing to get out the door to catch my train. I blow kisses.

3. I love this train station. The tall ceilings. The light. Its otherness. I don’t feel like I’m in Milwaukee when I'm in this building, and it’s a lovely and perfect transition gateway to somewhere else.

4. Cubs game. Everyone is wearing Brewers swag except for me.

5. I hear about her camp highlights while I devour my second breakfast. I love circular tables because I can see everyone’s smiling face. There’s such great energy here, but that is probably more because this family is really funny and amazing and all together in one place.

6. I channel my Filipino mom-ness and take multiple photos of the flower arrangements in the hotel lobby. I love that they accept me, and all of them wait patiently for me to finish.

7. The shade of her green shirt matches the color of her hazel eyes perfectly. I wonder at the change in her. Time is a blur.

8. The train ride back is spent looking out the window while trying to formulate a health plan for my near and hopefully distant-ish-ish future. The blurriness of the view sweeping by at an accelerating speed is appropriate, no? I know that not everyone can have it all. I fear Lady Fortuna as much as I fear Death... — I switch gears and I focus on thinking that it would be interesting prose to pair them both. This leads to writing. So there’s that.

9. Small confirmations that they've received my tiny gifts — That they know, even for a brief moment, that they are remembered and thought of during the busy and noisy traffic of life, regardless of the distances. 

10. Date night with him is spent realigning: seeing and hearing each other... and then being with and listening to each other.