Ten.One Thousand, Three Hundred & Eighty-One

1. No more heartburn.

2. I have this dream often, and I still can’t figure out what it means.

3. He gets the coffee while I make the donuts.

4. Hearing her voice.

5. I tell her I can’t tell if I’m tired from the shot or from the trauma.

6. Cleaning toilets while the thoughts run through my head. Angry and not, sad and not. Not able to fake the joy.

7. A stack of vintage postcards featuring black musicians and artists: Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong. Worth the drive.

8. Ginger ale while riding the curves on Howell Mountain Road. Stumps everywhere. Wasn’t it at the last HOA meeting that someone said, “remember how they used to call Geyserville “Stumptown?”

9. I figure out the timeline.

10. I don’t want to be angry anymore.