It was late afternoon by the time I walked, and still cold, and my daughters joined me and the dogs. This morning, woke early to work on a birthday slideshow for my youngest, for her tea party in Boston at noon. So, the late afternoon walk was a talk-over, of course, and the slideshow was a success, the high tea on Newbury Street, the tiny treats, the large and robust pots of tea, the special guests for this rite-of-passage birthday – which happens Tuesday. This has been a busy day of a busy weekend, and I thought all my energy was spent but after the walk, curled up on the couch, amidst all the pleasant noise of a loud television show and a room full of three adult children and a husband and two dogs by the fire and my visiting father-in-law, I opened my essay and re-worked what I drafted yesterday. Because tomorrow is Monday. Because it's what I'm working on, because even though I have doubts, because even though it needs so much work, it's what I need to write right now. So, I am just working them out, a word at a time, I will give it permission, in fact, to suck. In fact, I'm sure it does.