On Keeping House

Wednesday mornings, Bonnie and I wake at the usual time and we look out the window in her bedroom and do the weather report together, then we sit at the breakfast nook in the kitchen and I make myself eggs and we eat breakfast. I catch all the things that fall on the floor and wipe all the food from her face and hands. We take a morning walk around the neighborhood and look at the trees and when she takes her nap I assess the diapers and her food and make sure we have paper towels and toilet paper and soap for the kitchen and the bathroom. And sometimes I go to the yard and pluck fresh flowers and put them in vases and empty the dishwasher and load the dirty dishes to wash, and I check the bank account to see how much money we have and I pay the bills. I might write some lines in the notebook I keep on Bonnie's first year, or I might read a chapter in a book. It is very full and satisfying in a way I never understood. There is very little time to think about myself, which is also a gift I never understood.