middle class

four inches, give or take, off my hair.
it's always a few days, getting used to a new creature on my head. how will this one respond to my comb? will it play nice with my ears?

i got this cool pen for my birthday. it's messy. i don't know how anyone ever used a fountain pen in the olden days without getting their hands all stained with ink. maybe there's a trick to it i haven't picked up on yet.

one week.

oddly enough this feels much more like an approaching beginning than an end. i will still be me. i will still have a pen behind my ear. i know a lot of things will change, but this isn't really and end or a beginning. it's a middle. an interruption, one might call it. a little shift in priorities. eighteen months of an alternate life. i'll turn 24 and 25 in canada. my youngest brothers will turn 12 and 16 while i'm gone. four years ago they turned 8 and 12 and i was in england. am i destined to be out of the country for all these momentous birthdays?

well, birthdays come every year. i've never been to canada before. the little brothers and i will have to get over it. though i hope the one will write to me about his first date.