This or that?

“I can either write about poop or heel cushions,” I reply to Dawn in a text exchange about not having an idea to write about for Slice of Life. This conversation had begun in real life during our faculty meeting, where she had quickly grabbed a piece of paper from the middle of the table, flipped it over, and started scribbling away…”My slice for later,” she explained.

Now, I’m standing in the medicine aisle at Target, looking for a solution to the first option of slicing…the product of another round of antibiotics for another ear infection. We’re going on about a month of on-again off-again illness. The days I call the attendance line at the girls’ school outnumber the days I haven’t over the last four weeks.

Adi had accompanied me to Target, since she was getting in everyone’s space and on everyone’s nerves at home. As I scanned the aisles in search of a magic solution, Adi bounced ahead to look at something that caught her eye. “Can I get this?” she called back to me. I looked up to see her admiring a display of orthopedic foot remedies.

“What is it?” I asked.

“A heel cushion,” she replied in awe as she read off of the package.

“What do you need that for?” I asked.

“So my heel can have a cushion,” she said.

At the self-checkout lane, we only scanned one item, and it was not a heel cushion.

“Unexpected Monday night jaunt to target…that’s it…it could include poop and heel cushions! You can pull it all together😂😂😂,” Dawn had replied to my text. Desperate, that idea spun in my head as I drove home, where I found another text from Dawn…

“But don’t we like the struggle of the blank page.”

To which I replied, “I like it when it’s no longer blank. But yes!”

Some days writing is hard, and our best options are poop or heel cushions. Thank goodness for writing partners to help us see the possibilities.

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