Solstice of Zenith

This whole 24 hours has just been a little off. Yesterday evening we watched Muffinhead's graduation ceremony via livestream. A platform was built in a parking lot, and the students lined up next to their cars and walked across the stage one by one, gowned and masked, to receive diplomas from officials who were masked and gloved. It was a hot, sunny day, and flags flapped in the wind, which also blew the robes and stoles and caps every which way. Muffinhead looked so handsome, and so grownup. We got a glimpse of the Diva as she waved out the car window to the other graduates. It was a joy to see him, yet so inexpressibly poignant. This is not the bright world we would have wanted any of our beloved young ones to find when they stepped into adulthood. It makes me question all my choices. But I can't honestly think of anything I could have done to make it better. These forces are beyond me.

Then the Sparrowhawk went off to his socially distanced outdoor book club. I was so uncomfortable and miserable all day that I was worn out and just wanted to lie down. He had a late-evening Zoom meeting with a group of friends from high school scheduled for after the book club, and I was invited to sit in, but by that time I had gone to bed. I so much wanted just to sleep until the pain went away, and wake up all better. It didn't quite work out like that. When I woke up again at 5, I was still quite uncomfortable. I got up and puttered around aimlessly for awhile, and then decided I was far too miserable to stay up. I crawled back into bed, was immediately set upon by ALL the Bad Thoughts, but by sheer desperation I did battle with them and managed to go back to sleep. When I got up, I was somewhat better--at least well enough to stay up and be reasonably with it.

But by then it was after 11, when as my father would say, "the day is half over!" My only accomplishment was to make a quick run to the store to get a little gift for the Sparrowhawk. I heard through the grapevine that the kids were going to send him some fancy chocolate, but he had been expressing a wish for some ordinary cheap candy. I got him a fistfull of candy bars: Hershey's with almonds, Nestle's Crunch, and Snickers. I also got a frozen cherry pie for tomorrow and a six-pack of New Holland Lake and Trail--hopefully a nice uncomplicated brew for a sunny day. I did a little bit more writing and took another nap. We finished the day watching a livestream of sunrise at Stonehenge. This was a bit of a disappointment, since it was so cloudy that one couldn't really tell when the sun rose. The clouds became slightly less grey. Whereas here in Michigan, where it's so often cloudy, we're having an uninterrupted stream of hot sunny weather. And now I see it's tomorrow already. Time for another thrilling episode of "Let's sleep!"