Just Write {119}

Elsie leaned into my legs, heavy with sleepiness and trust. Put mine boots on, Mama. She puts one foot in the air, ready. I say, Wrong foot, and she switches quickly, her right foot up. I slide on the boot, trying not to get it stuck partway. Elsie lets out a little giggle behind her pacifier. She loves her cowgirl boots. I show LeeLee, she says, because I’m about to walk her next door, where LeeLee will help her take off her cowgirl boots and she’ll put her pacifier in her cubby and offer her something to eat.

I walk back home after a hug and kiss and sit down to work, trying hard to focus, to make the most of the work time. I set up calls, take a call, type out email responses and fill my water glass over and over. I edit something that has been sitting in drafts for months and send it off to someone for their consideration. They say yes, if we edit it more, it could work for their publication.

It still leaves me a bit stunned when people say yes. It never surprises me when they say no. And yes, just like anyone else, I hear a lot of nos.

Wrong foot. Not the right fit.

This week I’ll teach this online course and I tell myself yes, I can teach about writing. I’m going to hit that ball right out of the park, give people their money’s worth and all that.

So after cleaning up my messy desk, getting organized and other things that are just disguises for procrastination, I will put the hours in on the course, getting it ready. Later it will go like this: I will walk across our yards and knock on the door and from behind it I will hear, It’s Elsie’s turn! and then a squeal from my daughter. The door will open and she’ll be jumping up and down toward me and I’ll pick her up and she’ll grin very very close to my face. I’ll kiss her cheeks, both of them, a lot.

I’ll set her down and she’ll lean back on me, heavy with a full day’s exhaustion and with trust, lifting her foot up, ready for her pink boot.

Right foot.

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This is the 115th installment of Just Write, an exercise in free writing your ordinary and extraordinary moments. {Please see the details here.} I would love to read your freely written words so join me and link up below. You can add the URL of your post at any time. Just be sure it’s a link to your Just Write post, not to your main page, and please don’t link to posts that are not freely written in the spirit of capturing moments–you know, don’t link to how-to posts, lists or sponsored posts. Also, please link back to this post in yours so people know where to go if they’d like to join in.

Please take a moment to visit someone else who has linked up! It’s a really good way to meet new writers and get inspired by the meaning behind their moments. Word? Thank you!