the three of us hiked up stone mountain in the dark and watched the first sunrise of the new year together

this year was extra windy. the granite was dry, the fitting secure. i saw one parent, fighting the wind, holding their toddler down on the ground by their shoulders while another parent tried to put an extra coat on them before the toddler or the coat blew off the mountain

fallie brought out the hand-knit shark hat that i bought him the first year we dawn hiked together. he didn't have a hat then because we live in a subtropical climate and also he was a teenage boy

there was a person in camouflage coveralls and a purple times-square-planet-fitness twenty twenty-four top hat who seemed like they might be in charge of everything

the drummers this year were little kids doing a recital. they accompanied a dancer in white robes

there was no obvious cult presence like previous years, not even the new year's regime exercise cultists

in the last month, the three of us have been in the middle of a lot of intense change, some good, but also some actual upheaval, and an ongoing hold-your-breath-slow-motion family emergency. we are all fine; it has been difficult to find extra words.

i know some of it will be good, and some of it will be bad (and some of it may be very bad) but i'm here to see what happens next