Sorry to anyone looking for this newsletter on Sunday. It’s been a rough week. Month. Year.

It’s my last week of work (meaning, my job) for the year, but it’s also the week my mother fell (nothing broken, but she’s in a skilled nursing rehabilitation center). It’s the week that the toilet broke, the week that the HVAC guy is scheduled to come. But it’s also the week that the 15-year-old has final exams, and potlucks that we must prep for. And it’s the week that I have to get an MRI, AGAIN (at least I’ll end the day in acupuncture).

But it’s also the week that shitty things happened all over the world.

And it’s the week that I started gaining momentum on a writing project but had to set it aside to deal with all of the above. However it’s also the week that I was commissioned to write something for next year. And it’s the week of the return of a big house party that I used to throw annually until the last one in 2019.

It’s the week that I’m sure to forget something, or let something go to shit because everything feels like it’s going to shit.

pssst…NOW is the time to buy all three of my books direct from Northwestern University Press. You get 50% off with code NEWYEAR.

I offer you, though, this photo of the rear end of the therapy dog that was just idly walking around the rehab center my mother is in. This sweet thing just slowly waddled into the room, lifted her head to be petted, and allowed us to ooh and aah over her while she calmly took in the attention.

I’ll be skipping the Sunday post 12/21 as well, because I will be recovering from said party, and I don’t know what else is in store for me these last two cursed weeks of this cursed year (other than desperately searching for an assisted living situation for my mother in advance of her leaving the rehab center). I plan to be back in your inbox 12/28 with my year in reading.

Happy Holidaze, Everyone. Thanks for reading. Hope you’ve had a far better week than me!

my books are waiting to be read by you

Thank you for reading Mommy’s El Camino.