Two legs + Four Legs

A whipping breeze stung my cheeks, flicking my hair up off of my shoulders in unorganized sections and tangling the strands into nervous knots. A long day’s work had become a long night’s, and I was ready to retreat home–to forget it all in the sunken warmth of my pillow.

Without dull orange street lamps to flood the deserted parking lot with light, my vision remained dim within the shadows. I slipped a cramped hand into my fleece pocket, curling my thumb into the ring of my keychain. It rattled. Something ducked in front of me.

Morning: Arg! Evening: Woot! Me: Tired

I’m exhausted. In all, I worked 13.5 hours today. My feet ache, I haven’t eaten since lunch, and my brain seems to be sloshing around between my ears. I really need to decompress, but it’s so close to bedtime that I might just have to go relax in my dreams. I haven’t worked a day this long since those crazy times in Georgia on the Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius set. Thankfully, this didn’t involve getting up at 4:00AM. One thing I’m grateful for is that this kind of day is an anomaly.

A taste of new life

I got to hold a newborn today named Avery. The little nugget isn’t yet a week old, and she was in my arms. Perhaps she dreamed of the fantastical universe that only exists inside the newly formed brain—each fresh thought a revelation, every new sound, smell, sight, and touch a sensory explosion that jumps about, making a little bit more sense of the world.

Her soft head nestled into the crook of my elbow; her legs curled up, the fetal position still so natural to her tiny little body. White fingernail tips, a full head of brown hair, and puffed cheeks that feel as soft as velvet… all parts of a giant discovery inside a miniature human form. I felt my body sway back and forth as if switched on by the internal rhythm of life itself. I may not want a child of my own just now, but I very much enjoy having a spine curved against my arm, a wrinkled hand hooked around my fingertip, and a miraculous expedition into the great unknown unfold before my eyes.