Note 11/9/2022 8:47:34 Am - Online Notepad -

There are things I should be doing. I have three unread emails that require "circling back." I have a grocery list that is mostly just items I forgot to buy last week. But for a second, I just want to acknowledge that I am here.

Yesterday was the midterms. The news cycle is a jagged roar of red and blue, a relentless tallying of who we are and who we aren’t. It feels like we are all perpetually waiting for a result that never quite settles the score. But here, in the 8:00 AM hour, the world isn't a map of districts; it’s just the sound of a heater clicking in the corner and the distant hum of a neighbor scraping frost off a windshield. Note 11/9/2022 8:47:34 AM - Online Notepad

Since the prompt is open-ended, I’ve expanded this into a reflective piece exploring what might have been going through someone’s mind on that specific morning in late 2022. There are things I should be doing