I’ve been up since 5 am—actually awake a little longer. It’s now pushing 9, and I have finished pretty much nothing other than two cups of coffee.

I have a 90 min Zoom yoga class at 9, a standing dog walk to Starbucks with my daughter at 11:30, and my Covid booster at 5:45 this afternoon. Since I may feel rather poorly tomorrow as a result of my shot, I must grade 25 Hamlet essays before I leave for my date with the needle.

If I’d started grading around 6 am after a leisurely cup of coffee and a good morning talk with my husband, I would be just about done by now. But I didn’t.

It’s now 11 am. I realized during yoga that the shelves in my sideboard needed immediate attention. My coffee storage and crafting supplies are totally out-of-whack, so I rearranged them. In doing so, I discovered a 48-pack of AA batteries I totally forgot about. Good thing, too—I was about to order more!

I can hear my daughter upstairs asking her father what she should wear to walk to Starbucks with the dog and me. It’s December in the era of climate change so that means last night was warmer than yesterday afternoon and this morning we heard about tornados in the suburbs. And right now, it is 55 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius). Her generation doesn’t have the experiential knowledge that December in the northern hemisphere is coat weather—it’s frequently not true.

When we get back, I will be exercised, further caffeinated, and truly ready to grade—as soon as I finish lunch.

We all know the Chinese proverb, “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” Well, I did not grade at 6 am nor 11 am nor just after lunch and, fortunately, “now” is always just a moment, a let-me-tidy-this, an I-need-to-look-that-up away from where I am

now.