an example of what's forthcoming

rather than diary, i plan to post more in-the-moment freewrites such as this one which i wrote back when i first started this blog (originally appeared here, below) :)

garlic winter night

the smell of garlic frying on the stove. clint in a red, plaid flannel tending a healthy meal. kyla sleeping peacefully on a green-leafed rug. clint says she smells like dog. i don't notice.

two nights away from the shortest day, and i am thankful for the time indoors. also for some sun today to melt the ice. i don't feel like such a weather-martyr when the sun has finally come out. these are the same cycles i've always known -- four seasons, a break at christmas, back to school, and then summer. we get two mondays off no teaching in january! two of my students are proud and have gone out of their way to tell me they share a birthday with martin luther king, jr. when i told vilma that's aldin's birthday, too, she knew, even though he's in another class!

i've made my home here because my family's here, and they are always an hour away. i've made my home here because i get letters like katie's. i've made my home here because there is a unitarian church down the street. and even though a family like mine is unusual in nebraska, with international christmas celebrations and no strong ties to christianity but to humanity, it is a place known for the salt of the earth. lincoln is in the salt valley. when i meet people from nebraska living in other places, there is still something in them i recognize. for the most part, we all grew up with christmas lights on the house and christmas trees inside to help get us through the winter. it's a place where people are comforted and more at ease when a new football coach is hired during a bad season. while i can't relate with that, i'm glad such a thing can bring them comfort. and i'm glad to be able to escape to a mexican restaurant over lunch with a friend and be speaking another language, not even having to deal with the thoughts that come to my head in my own but able to revert back in a second. kind of like living an hour away from my family in a college town . .. there may be a few more visible opportunities for worldliness here, but then home is only a code-switch away, up the interstate. only closed, icy interstates can keep us apart, and even then we call and say i want you to go down that aisle to graduation because you know i'd be there if i could.

and for those of us not so close to our families, we know our friends care like family. and this stuff is not just here. but it is here, too. and it is all the little strings amongst our hearts tied together that make us able to bear the cold, feel stronger for doing it, and warm our hearts seeing that this is the true weather for for my furriest friend, kyla.