It’s 7a.m. on a Sunday in July 2023, and I wake up thinking about her because I’m impressed more than in love.

I should be worried and filled with dread. However, I am not. Does this mean I have faith? I don’t know. I do know I have met someone who has taken me out of me.

I will wait and not react. I will exercise patience. I have slept well, which is a good sign.

Things are out of my control. I am not powerless. It’s just in a holding pattern. Spending time with the kid, reading the Russians, introducing her to Sherlock and Cumberbatch.

She left yesterday, and she said she would return tomorrow. She said she lives in the present. She didn’t dwell in yesterday. I am trying not to worry about tomorrow’s.

It is a work in progress. The weather is good and warm here. The girl is sleeping and talking in her sleep. Calm short sentences. Working something out, too…

It’s been 6 years since I finished my short film The Meditation, and little about that went as planned. Of note: the world didn’t end then either.

Dennis Mantin