When we finally settled down in the area where the sky was always full of clouds,
the political news coverage became increasingly colorful
and fun to read just like an intricately-woven fiction piece. I sat,
exhausted yet highly intrigued, reading the New York Times, lost in a world as alien,
seeing myself dressed in bright orange paint and flying in an ever dark sphere.

Dear Eugene, your first days in this new day care were traumatizing to mommy.
I was even more nervous than I had felt in those early days
at the UM English department. For your smooth transition and all your happiness
in these past few days, mommy wants to thank everyone and—life itself.

I was driving around the shopping area near the town center, when it occurred
to me that I shouldn’t blame all those friends. It was me.
I simply drifted away from them, like a leaf, a melody heard
only vaguely in distance, or a small piece of joke that lost its flavor in time.
One of them once wrote, “you’re in such contrast with me—you’ve been going
farther and farther, while I remain here, almost forever.”