For Ana

Because writing partners show up for one another!

My brain is FRIED.

What a week! Back to school, finding an apartment, applying for said apartment, booking movers, booking the elevator for move-out, awaiting final approval from the association, finishing my sweater, filing for divorce, organizing the classroom, thinking about first day and first six weeks plans, meetings meetings meetings, interviewing new teachers with no time to spare, interviews with families of incoming students over Zoom, rescheduling interviews, gathering boxes from school supplies to bring home to fill with things that I need to move, new math workbooks and textbooks, a fire drill not for a fire but for a burst pipe from a plant truck whose driver f-ed up, rescuing the paper!, and that oppressive heat on the walk home every day. It’s a whirlwind.

I am grateful, as ever, for my people.

I am also sorry, to said people, for the brain farts that I continue to have.

“Kim, we should, um… wait… I just had it! ARGH! It’s gone.”

I think I have started more sentences than I have completed today.

But now, just after 9pm, I am finally on the couch after packing up most of the kitchen, and I feel accomplished.

My classroom is ready for parents and students to see it tomorrow.

The first day plans are set.

I’ll sign off with my past few days in pictures.