where kids breathed

I was browsing through journal entries when I was stopped short by a simple description of walking Etta to school. Wow, that's right, we used to go to school! In that moment grief hit me hard -- for all we've been throug

in the old days
three months ago
we walked to school with friends

carelessly ran our hands
along fences
picked up rocks, dandelions
sneezed
stood close

school was a physical building
where kids
gathered
hugged
breathed the same air
sat smushed side by side in the
lunchroom
shared pencils
swung from monkey bars
that other kids had touched

teachers taught in 
classrooms
zoom
meant go fast

if we had known then

if we had known

how could we know

in the old days
three months ago
we walked to school
a physical building
where kids gathered

breathed 
the same air

where kids

breathed