As my days go these days, yesterday was relatively calm. Construction guys moved down the street to destroy my neighbors' flowerbeds, my dad is hanging on and may be transferred from the ICU in a few days, I managed to do some housework and cook a meal and teach a class and prep for tonight's reading . .  . 

At night I have long phone calls with my sister in which we try to hold each other up and plot how best to keep my mom steady and fret about what rehab and recovery and relapse and all of the unknowns might have in store for us. And then I get into bed and fall into a conked-on-the-head sleep.

One thing that has been so helpful is your kindness. It is surprising, the power of good will. Evil churns on and on in this world. Schoolchildren are massacred. Grandfathers are shot in the back. But when my sister got pulled over for talking to me on her cellphone while driving home, and after she apologized and told the cop she was wrong and explained why she was talking to me, his response was "You are the first person today who has told me the truth.  I hope everything turns out well for your dad." Me, I've had construction guys worrying about my plants, a neighbor rescuing a shovelful of thyme, another neighbor taking down my laundry for me, people from all times and places in my life signing up to hear me read poems tonight.

I may not be able to thank you personally. But know that your goodness matters.