This is the first iPhone photo I’ve used, which feels a little like cheating at the art project, but it was pretty so I’ve decided to be fine with it.

Today was Thursday, and I like Thursdays because they are steady and usually open. By the almost end of the week, I’ve wrapped up most of my work and I have a standing appointment in the morning, so Thursdays feel anchored and full of possibility at-once.

I liked my outfit because I wore a tutu-style skirt with a shredded “rock on” tee that I really only bought as an inside joke with my brother, but combining mismatched items like this makes me feel tough or cool or like exercising the fullness of myself, because we rarely are all of ourselves all the time. Plus, the weather has shifted to that perfect balance of hot sun and cool breeze and getting dressed feels more like self-expression again instead of being as naked as publicly acceptable.

After my appointment, I stopped by Nellybelle because Leezl is helping me with a terrarium, which we are going to finish tomorrow afternoon. I bumped into some people I know from town. Then I came home and tended to a little work before a call with a former MFA colleague about the thesis project he’ll turn in soon. It was nice to talk about writing and books in that hopeful way you do while in school versus the doomsday conversations that float over the querying period (though querying friends, I’d never survive without this commiseration).

The main events of the day were later. First up, Edith’s cross country meet, and it’s always astounding to me to have produced a child who enjoys running. Second, it was homecoming week for the bigger kids, and we took a whole crew of giggling girls to our first game under the lights. I didn’t have this experience as a kid—football and a marching band and the whole hometown showing up for teenagers just learning to be good at a thing. I loved it.