It has been a good day.

Woke up early, no alarm. Lazed in bed reading for a while, then went down and did a comfortable research writing sprint while drinking tea. Finished an art project before Barbara came for pancakes, bacon, sweet potato hash, and smoothies; Megan joined us for the food and conversations about feminist theology and scholarly writing. The river drifted by the window, stately and just barely frozen. We admired it. I got helpful feedback on a paper and some new books (books!) to read.

Emily came to sketch our way through the first draft of a conference paper. When I say "sketched," I mean it literally; we are submitting a comic book. I am somehow starting to build a career out of drawing penguins on academic documents. This amuses me to no end.

Then a bit more work on my own before the dance post-production meeting, where I curled up on the floor in a pile of people and saw our company leap about on the big screen. Fried some bratwurst and put sauerkraut on the stove, watched Cole's car struggle up the first half of our icy driveway and then join the other cars parked on the grass. Julia and Cole and I had a long, candlelit research meeting. (If you've never had a research meeting by candlelight, you're missing out; try it. It's fantastic.)

Then they were off, and I went along to scrub and submit interview audio for transcription, knock off an IRB revision, and log out for the night. With a pause for candlelight mass in the middle. (It's a candlelight night, apparently.)

This is how I'd like to be, I think. A cozy home, a life intertwined with the community and with scholarly colleagues. Big kitchen with a window with a view, good food to feed the brains and hearts and hands tumbling through tough ideas at the table, wrestling out research and life together. Sleep, food, and faith. Friends. Music, movement. Sunlight. Writing. Tea and satisfaction.

It's a good life for a Mel.