Bring on the Crazy

Everything feels off-kilter. Hell Monday.

1. Punch watched too much "Supergirl" on Netflix this evening and freaked out when we said her time was up--even though she had fair warning. It was frightening and upsetting. I believe this is fallout--a reaction related to seeing birth mom and baby sister 8 days ago. Things she wants more of and cannot have? Wanting to control things out of her control? Not liking adults managing her life--adults who can let her down? I am a pocket philosopher, I know.
2. Figgy is so busy with ornithology mid-term, studying hard, working. It seems like every time she turns around from the laptop to talk to me/answer a How are you doing? question, she has a different face mask on [oatmeal, blue clay etc.] I think maybe she has been breaking out from stress or something. I hope she is not taking on too much. This semester, she has organic chemistry; physics; genetics; ornithology; and maybe something else. She has several full-day Saturday birdwatching trips, often a long drive away. And a boyfriend. She is not sleeping enough. God bless.
3. Dan is unhappy and difficult even though he has a great magazine assignment. He rallied to put up our orange Halloween lights and go to CVS for tealights to put in our cute jack-o’lanterns on the mantel but then vanished into darkness of the mind & spirit again. This is all hard to bear when it is prolonged in your partner.
4. And, since everyone has to fall apart together--though no, we’re not really falling apart--even Sug got into the act, biting at a cyst and getting an infection. The vet’s office was crowded, all of us eager to help our cats and dogs. I got there at 3 [late for 2:40 appt, parked where there was no meter, escaped ticket] and left near 4:30 but love Dr. Cameron & Co. And the receptionist, Joyce, who said it was so busy yesterday that she needed roller skates to get around!
5. So what do you think someone attached to the substance sugar does on a day like this? She eats the perfect brownie perfectly wrapped in cellophane that she purchased for Punch, who loves brownies. It was baked in New York for fabulous Cafe Angelique, which has a sister location in the old train station in Tenafly. She was in that town to pick up a turquoise choker from a high-end consignment shop; she had taken 6 months to pay it off. And now that she is home, her hair looks dirty and she is tired and when she tries it on in the bedroom at 9 p.m., the choker does not at all measure up to her glamorous recollection of it. And her young girl acts mean and her dog tries to bite and her husband is angry and her college girl still isn’t home yet. The woman thinks fashion is her armor in a shifting, hard world but sometimes even fashion cannot protect her--or buffer her from the pain.

I pray for peace all around.
The girl went to sleep in her Supergirl Halloween costume, something about feeling protected or strong.
Tomorrow I’m meeting my friend/former editor in NYC for lunch and will bring my laptop to do some work before or after in my inspiring metropolis.
I am flying to Miami Saturday for four days as guest of Sis! I hope my turquoise choker, and my family, will rise to the occasion.
Below, the old train station at 1:54 p.m. today.

Good night.