Today was a ridiculously gorgeous day.

Omg, I walked outside today and wanted to live it forever.

Remember that sternly-worded letter to D7? I'm so over D7. I put it in it's place a long time ago. Now I've moved on to full, rich, melodic sounding chords. I've almost got "Mighty to Save" under my thumb. LOVE that song. Call me Chan Dylan. Chantos Santana. I just gotta get a smooth way to change chords down. It's so funny how a little thing is bugging you like mad and when you get through it, you can't believe you used to be so worried about it.

I want to be outside frolicking in the sunshine, but instead I'm shackled to my laptop, translating an introduction to an account of a former Cuban slave for my faculty mentor. Esteban Montejo (the former slave, not my faculty mentor, lol), if you wanna get hip to the Afro-Hispanic identity tip.

I try not to look back, but sometimes it's good to do so to see how far you've come. What sticks out to me are mornings. Those moments of quiet lucidity after you first wake up. I used to dread mornings . . . once I got going it got a little better, but those morning moments, when I was faced with the prospect of another day, used to be so painful. Those moments when you realize you will always have to deal with yourself. I'd say those mornings started post-Auburn graduation, intensified post-France, and peaked during those days of the job that brought me to my knees.

Now, it's totally not that things have gotten easier. Rather, that my tasks, per se, have gotten easier. PhD is no joke . . . I'm just waiting for the hammer to fall during midterms. But now I wake up knowing I'm where I'm supposed to be right now. It's so reassuring. On bright days, I wake up bathed in sunshine. It filters in through my blinds and washes over me. The uncertainty still throws me off sometimes, but now I feel more secure within it. I thank God for my new mornings. I really do.