Erica G.

I wake up at 6:22 and my dog does not want to get out of bed.

I leave for work at 7:21 and my dog does not want to be left behind.

I listen to Planet Money on my way in to work but by the afternoon I won’t remember what it was about.

I arrive at work at 8:20 and distance the world with an audiobook while I prep for class.

It is 10:02 and a student has arrived for office hours.

It is 11:26 and I have too much time to think. 

Today is my best friend’s birthday

Today marks a year of outright genocide

Today I heard someone claim not to be a vengeful person

and follow that with dehumanization

a call for the annihilation of innocent people.

Today is my best friend’s birthday

I wonder how many years

a place that claims to exist for us

will make her birthday about

death, vengeance, pain,

fill it with claims that everyone wants us dead,

ask us to ignore 75 years of others’ pain

so they can make this year the worst yet.

Today is my best friend’s birthday

and we have mourned every day of her 32nd year.

I make earl grey lavender tea at 11:48 to soothe myself.

It’s noon and I’m meeting a colleague for lunch (she brought her dog to work so I get to pet her). I wonder what my dog is doing after his walk.

I visit her lab and see her anemones.

It’s 12:36 and I finished my pasta. My colleagues are talking about an apartment in NYC that’s been full of soil for 50 years.

It’s 1:07 and I am reviewing material so I can teach one of my favorite topics this afternoon.

I water my plants.

I feed my axolotl.

I teach neuroscience.

It’s 4:43 and there’s a new baby cow at the farm I pass on my way home. I ask my best friend (it’s her birthday) to name the cow. 

It is 5:02 when my dog greets me and it’s 6:46 when he asks for my dinner (boy loves a cucumber)

We get in bed early at 8:36 to read and the dog gets the zoomies. He is a silly boy.