I keep forgetting stuff lately. Recent example: In April of 2023, I finally renewed my passport that expired in 2017, ten years after I went to Spain for a really quick trip. But the other day, I forgot I’d renewed it, which is alarming since it had involved checking for open appointment slots every morning for weeks, finally getting one at a little library 40 minutes away and then really enjoying the little library and the tiny scrap of orchard they’d preserved in the courtyard. Anyway, Scuba and I were talking about taking a trip, and I was like, “OMG I have GOT TO renew my passport!” and he was like, “Yes, please do!” And then slowly I started to remember that maybe I had? But honestly I wasn’t 100% sure until I looked where I keep all our birth certificates and immunization cards and passports. Mine wasn’t there, but then I remembered it was in my desk and even when I found it, I wasn’t sure-sure that it was mine until I flipped to the photo page.

I remember things better when I write them down. It’s always been true for me. So, for the sake of my stress levels, I’ll start with today: I woke up early, at 5:20, made coffee, and read to almost the end of By Any Other Name (Jodi Picoult – I am pretty sure I’ve read a few of her books, but, omg I don’t remember). Went for a 4ish mile hike on the creek trail with Scuba, watered the plants and changed the bed and then got back into both my pajamas and the bed and finished the book, which made me cry. A lot. I think I’m a little depressed? I like the Emilia Bassano theory! I was riveted and read it in like 2 days even though it’s 528 pages. What else? It was dramatically cloudy today but didn’t ever rain. I made some really good hard boiled eggs* to go in the giant salad we made for dinner. I put away almost all my laundry, until I ran out of hangars. I got a new kind of coffee to try since I like their espresso so much. So boring, but also exactly the kind of stuff I like. Now I’m going to find a story I haven’t heard and listen to it while I work on the sleeve of this sweater I’m knitting until I fall asleep. And maybe sometime down the road, I’ll come back here to find what that book or that coffee was called, or what the hardboiled egg method that works every time is again.

Edited to add: To further prove my point, I wrote this on 10/27 and forgot to post it. Chef’s kiss!

*What makes a “really good” hard boiled egg: No green edges on the yolk. Easy to peel. Tiny little lentil-sized oozy bit of yolk in the middle. I generally prefer a jammy soft-boiled egg, but not on a cold salad. Ew.