the caterpillar lacks lettuce

This morning I followed Jay down the highway in his big plumbing van. He was taking Julia to preschool and I was headed to the office for a meeting. As he reached his exit before mine, we were beside each other for a minute, and he waved, big old paw. I waved back. Then I realized the sunlight was illuminating the back of the van where the windows are tinted, and I could see Julia waving like crazy. It caught me by the heart for a second, her grin, her polka dot coat, the tumble of golden hair over her shoulders, tiny hand waving at me. I blew them a kiss.

A couple miles later, some lady ran into the back bumper of my car. Nobody’s hurt. It’s just a bumper; everything’s fine. But still. I missed most of the meeting. After the meeting I waited to talk with the sales manager about some questions I have about a listing. He had another meeting, and suggested I call a different person. But I didn’t have her phone number. I could look it up on a computer, but all the computers were in use. I could ask the sweet woman who runs the desk, but she was on an interminable phone call with a technician of some kind. Sigh. I wandered back and forth for a while, waiting where she couldn’t see me.

Then my cell phone rang, and it was Lydia, sounding very tragic. “Joey’s out of lettuce and I’m afraid he might die.” Joey is her caterpillar. For several weeks he’s been living in a big glass tumbler on her dresser. “And we’re out of ketchup.” She sounded like she was crying, so I asked her. “No, I just have a very stuffy nose.” You know? I was all done waiting then, standing around that frustrating office. This is why I work from home in the first place.







I packed up my stuff and left, stopping for ketchup and lettuce on the way, and some gorgeous pumpkin cookies with raisins caught my eye too. I’m in my real office now, with bedroom slippers on, ready to actually get some work done. The chicken nuggets are in the oven, Joey has his lettuce and from the family room, I can hear Lydia’s happy chatter. I mentioned that they might want to put on clothes today and Tim told me, “Nah. We like pajamas.”


It all feels just right when I'm HERE. love, Val