“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

So now things have gotten into about as much of a mess as they can. An hour ago, just before the start of a long weekend, the day care office called to tell me—not that they would be opening on Tuesday, as I had put faith in—but on March 1. March 1 is six weeks away. My class at Rutgers starts Tuesday afternoon. Lives are going to be disrupted.

Mine…for about an hour, apparently. I was going to write about how I was fortunate to get some good lines today. One from Zen Master Seung Sahn:

A good situation is a bad situation, and a bad situation is a good situation.

And one from a woman of a twenty-nine-year-old and a ten-year-old:

It’s amazing that children give us such strength.

I must have been very weak. I finally “screwed up the courage” to call the place back to get the phone number of a care worker to see if she knew of anyone who was looking for an opportunity to tide them over until the day care reopens. In the process, contrary to my experience of seeing the whole place closed down, I learned that it is only two rooms that are closed, while the rest are open. And I learned that one of my caretaking favorites is looking for work. So now I’m sighing a huge sigh of relief. Things could get screwed up again, but probably won’t.