Tuesday, November 1

The sun is a bleach that cleans, whitens, sterilizes, and reduces the landscape. Today it is cloudy, with a sixty percent chance of rain, and while the sky is gray, the trees are greener, gold-er, or more naked as we drive through this old red-brick town.

This morning I forgot to bring my towel to the bathroom, so I was flossing my teeth in front of the mirror as I dried. The funny thing about the bathroom in this little southern home, is that there are two doors to the bathroom. One comes from a normal public space, but another comes from Claire’s roommate’s room; So while I dried, naked, and flossing in front of the mirror I think Claire’s roommate got a bit of a shock.

Poor girl. First, running into a naked stranger in her own bathroom, and if that wasn’t enough, then hearing him and his two friends laughing hysterically in the next room.

I’m on my way back from Tennessee and I feel like life is so abundant, so bursting with significance, with affection and loneliness that I’m not sure what to do with it all. My life is moving again, but it moves so fast. Right now it is 10:30 and we are driving home again. It seems a bit like we just got out of the car, but 9 tired hours from now I will be far from Tennessee. And just as soon I will be with two more people who I care about, for an even more brief period of time. Excitement after excitement with barely time to realize it.