2023-10-19: unsettled

the last few days haven't been great. i texted one of my music teachers, asking if i could move our lesson this week, and he replied back that he'd been taken to hospital last night, trouble breathing. that he was having all sorts of tests done; that we'd figure out next week when it came. when my partner called after work, i told her about the texts; and she told me she had news, too, that our friends' dog had suddenly started gasping, keeled over. that he was dead within seconds.

all of this incongruous with the beautiful weather, its slow warmth, the red-gold leaves still hanging on the trees. after work i grabbed a tallboy, went outside with my partner, who'd just arrived home. we just sat there for a while, enjoyed the late afternoon sun, the flashes of colour. didn't say anything, but felt it. watched the dogs run laps around the yard.

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