I have found that in staying at home with Abhimanyu, my days feel MUCH longer. It’s not exactly that the time passes slowly. More that…a LOT happens. And because Abhi still has two naps (inbetweentimes) during the day and can emerge with different personalities, one day can sometimes feel like three. When I think of it like that, I feel better that I don’t remember things from earlier in the day. It’s because that was days ago for me.

Last Friday was a GOOD day for me. In the first day, I slept in to 7:30 and spent time with Abhimanyu, Nate, and Nate’s parents. I discovered Chewing Gum on Netflix. In the inbetweentime, I showered and made my way to Women & Children First.

In the second day, I read like a fiend. I made good progress in The New Jim Crow. I wrote lots of ideas down. I took a necessary breather to explore the copy of Essence I bought on a whim and found it a fantastic magazine (I will be subscribing!). Then I kept my momentum up and got through the whole fifth chapter of The New Jim Crow, and rewarded myself with the prologue of Swing Time.

I was listening to The Dollop podcast on the Boston busing riots in the 70’s on the way there and back. When I finished the second part of that, I moved on to listening to Carrie & Lowell and wept the few blocks from the bus stop to our apartment. I was over the moon to find the place dark and empty. I went straight for the bedroom and sobbed, letting Carrie & Lowell play out and then following it up with Shields. It was the first time I’d cried like that ages. It felt great to let loose. Then I warmed myself up, got comfy and made my way to the living room to finish reading Essence.

Everyone came back from swimming class in a great mood. Abhimanyu was the kindest to me he has ever been and sat in my lap happily for ages. I was expecting him to leave all the time, but he kept chatting and eating bits of peanut butter play dough. He ate a good dinner of…SUSHI!

And loved it. After some good playing and a long-missed bath time, he went down faster than he has in a really long time.

In the third day, we sat down to a yummy dinner of crock pot Italian beef (courtesy of my in-laws) and watched the incredible “Murder & Scully Meet the Were-monster”, followed by the pilot of The Good Place (which we just finished the first season of and oh-my-god-go-watch-that-show-now-what-are-you-waiting-for), followed by three episodes of Halal in the Family. Oh, and Nate was demonstrating his latest magic tricks intermittently throughout this while I colored in my new Dr. Seuss coloring book. We rounded off the evening with a bit of Overwatch and reading comics in bed.

I have a lot to be thankful for.