First day of the semester, and I just barely remembered to do the obligatory photo. Made it through teaching well (adrenaline boost from first day probably helped), but oh, am utterly exhausted now. I don’t normally wear much black, but it felt like the right and easy choice today.
I’m sort of sorry we’ve gotten away from so many mourning customs; I ran into various colleagues on campus today, and they asked how I was, not having seen me in months and not knowing about my mom. I said ‘fine,’ because I definitely didn’t have the energy to get into a whole explanation / conversation about her funeral being yesterday.
But it would’ve been nice if everyone I met could just look at my clothes and know that I was in mourning and that I was probably feeling a bit fragile and they should be gentle with me. My colleagues were all actually fine, of course, even though they had no idea. And it was nice to see them again. But still.
On the other hand, the sequel to Swordheart dropped today, so the universe must have known I needed a little present to reward me for getting through the day. Going back to Daggerbound now. It’s delightful and comforting and sweet and funny, as expected. Thanks, Ursula.
(Ursula Vernon; T. Kingfisher is her pseudonym.)
