My schedule it is still scrambled and I have had a cold for about two weeks now. I think I’m out of that middle-of-the-night hack hack barf stage, so that’s good. Work is slow, so hours are short, which I’m glad about in a way because it’s giving me time to recover. If you haven’t heard from me, don’t take it personally, please!

Since I have been fairly out of commission lately, I rallied yesterday and dragged my tired old body to Franny’s school at three. I had told her about the wonder that is Sephora and she was very interested in seeing it for herself. We jumped on the downtown bus, had a snack, and hit the counters. She ended up with bright red lips and teal glitter eyeliner, which is funny on an eight-year-old. She got compliments wherever she went–“Ooh, she’s going to be a model!”

Her mood started to slide in the store and completely crashed once we left.

“I don’t want to be a model,” Franny said, as we crossed the street in the rain.

“That’s fine,” I said. “Make yourself happy.”

We walked for a while in silence. She had her head down and her hood was getting all covered in mist.

“Hey,” I said. “We’re right by your grandpa’s house. Want to give him a ring and see if he’s home? We can say ‘hi.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. Franny sort of followed me around the market after that, as I bought halibut and a demi-baguette and some little Chinese buns with red bean paste in them for dessert.

Later, as I was making dinner, Strudel picked up Franny’s elaborate Lego house and smashed it on the ground, where it shattered into a bunch of pieces. Franny wailed and ran to her room, slamming the door. “This has been the WORST day EVER!”

She went to bed shortly after that, since she was obviously so tired and at loose ends. The next morning she was in much better spirits.

“Feeling better?” I said.

“Yes, I am.” she said. “When I said I was having a bad day, I didn’t mean the part downtown. I just had a really bad day at school.”

“Well, life is hard sometimes,” I said. “The important thing is to try to keep the hard parts seperate from the sweet parts. I try not to let my bad days ruin the good things.”

“Okay,” she said.

I really hope she gets it.