Kylie Nelson. Mom, grandma, and a woman who writes the week down so it stays put.
August 22, 2026
They finally filled the pot
I keep walking out here just to look at them. The railing gets the morning light first.
I wanted something that did not shout. White heads, green leaves, a clay pot that has lived on this deck longer than the last two paint jobs on the house. Gahanna in late August is mostly heat. These are the one thing that looks like I meant it.
They take their time. I water them, forget them, then overcorrect. Then one morning the pot is full and I stand there with my hand on a leaf as if they might change their mind.
I took the picture so I would remember the year they actually filled in. Not a gardening tip. Just the pot.
August 23, 2026
The quiet half hour
Coffee, glasses, nobody asking me for anything yet.
There is a half hour after the kettle and before the house starts. I take the mug to the railing. Glasses off. The yard doing nothing, which is the whole point.
I used to bring the phone. Now I leave it on the counter. It is not a habit I copied from anyone. It is the only slice of the morning that does not have a list attached to it.
If you came here looking for a protocol, this is not that. It is coffee on a deck in Ohio. That is the trick.
August 24, 2026
The list was under the lemon
Milk, bread, coffee. I stood in the kitchen with the keys in my hand and no idea what I came in for.
This happens more than I admit. I walk into a room with a job and the job walks out. I stand there with the keys like they might remind me. Then I find the scrap under the lemon I meant to use yesterday.
Getting older is a trip. I am not shopping for a miracle and I am not writing a memoir about it. I write the list because writing it used to be enough, and some days it still is, and some days the list has to live in two places or I come home with a lemon and no bread.
I am leaving this here so the next time I do the standing-in-the-kitchen thing, I can at least laugh on purpose.
About me
I live in Gahanna. I have grown kids and a granddaughter who already has opinions about my deck. I am not a doctor, a coach, or a brand. I write short notes about the week so the week does not blur together.
If you found this from my Facebook page, hello. I post the same kind of thing there: the pot, the coffee, the dumb list on the counter. No news desk. No clinic. Just a person trying to keep the days straight.
