Destroy all cars.

On a perfect day like yesterday, you gotta pretty much expect something downright crappy is going to happen to keep everything in perspective. It did. On the way to band practice, in my car, I struck a dog as it ran across Glenwood Avenue in Minneapolis, just west of Lyndale. The dog's owner, having been chasing the dog when it managed to find the street, ran to its side right away, as did I, once I'd pulled over and gotten out of the car, in shock. The owner believed that the dog, too, was merely in shock; he saw the whole thing, and seemed to think the dog was essentially unhurt. I desperately wanted to exchange information, help out in some way, give this man everything I owned to make up for this accident, but he shooed me off, insisting the dog would be fine, and it wasn't my fault, and I shouldn't worry. I have no reason to believe the dog is not fine. Thinking back on the details of the accident, I suspect the dog was hit by a plastic part under the front bumper, which snapped off, and then the dog rolled under the car.

Still, afterward, I parked my car and cried for about ten minutes. So now you know I'm a big softy. Maybe especially for little dogs.

I hadn't meant for that narrative to be as long as it was.

Tonight is class. Specifically, we're taking a field trip down to Minnehaha Park, where an ancient sacred spring of the Dakota people, the Cold Water Spring, as it is known, is located. Then we'll go to a community center in Mendota for a talk on the subject. Stands to be interesting. Maybe somehow, someday, I'll incorporate some of the info into a future FTM for SAB.

In YA NOVEL the First news (see what I did there?), I'll be meeting with my editor on Tuesday to begin making what was an MS into a finely honed piece of literature. I seriously can't wait to get started.