The 4am cables are just quieter letters now

Somewhere between the kettle and the dark window I realized I still draft everything like a diplomatic cable — subject line, context, position, fallback. Thirty years of that habit and now even the grocery list comes out in triplicate. It's 3:30 in the morning and I'm composing a note to nobody about the way a fridge hums, and I think that's fine. That's what retirement was supposed to cost.