This is how it is. You walk out one door, pace in the hallway, come back through another door. You are riled and prickly and they better not ask you one more thing but of course they do and you respond appropriately without biting anyone’s head off.
This is how it is. You want to make the tea as a gesture of kindness. You are being thoughtful and caring when you remove the teabag that steeped a moment too long and reach into the fridge only to discover an absence of milk. This cannot be. There was milk. Of course there was milk just yesterday there was milk but now suddenly there is none, there is only the absence of milk. Inwardly you howl and shriek. Outwardly you slam the refrigerator door shut and hear all the bottles rattle in chorus. It’s not their fault there’s no milk. You leave the tea on the counter and huff into the bathroom to brush your teeth, hair and bruised confidence before you leave for work.
This is how it is. You know you are leaving tomorrow. After school. Which means you pack tonight or early tomorrow morning. You better write that sub plan for Friday. And what are you doing now? Writing into the wind again? And the kitchen? How is that supposed to work out? You are a mess and so are your countertops. You cannot leave the house in this state. Of course, you can and you in fact might if your willpower (or is it motivation) stays in the basement until further notice.
Then you read that Tina Turner has died. She was 83.
This is how it is.