Mrs.O's writing room.

Total eclipse shot in Pennsylvania. Photo by Mary Ongwen You guys, this eclipse thing exhausted my head. It was in every second article on my news feed, my social media platforms, school…I couldn’t get away but I also couldn’t be bothered.  Mr. O mentioned it twice, once like two months ago and then last week, just to make sure I’d cleared my schedule.  I was like yeah, yeah!  He read up on it, mapped out routes, and locations for the best view. I should have taken note. Dude patiently waits for people to come around. When something is major, it’s major.  After 23 years I should know he’s right—99.9% of the time.  So I asked, what time we needed to start the journey, he said 6:30am 😳. I mean I love nature and I’m usually up by 6:30am but for some reason when it’s outside my plans it’s as if eh?! 6:30am, I was up and ready.  Snacks were packed—road trip-ready on Monday morning, can you handle? We drove for a long time. I finished an office assignment, listened to podcasts, music, slept

I started 2024 with missing luggage after a flight home from Uganda. Immigration officer: Where are you coming from? Me: Uganda IO: What was the reason for your travel? Me: To see family IO: How are they doing? Me: They are well, thank you. IO: How much money are you bringing into the country? Me: (Thinking to myself—"dude is this a trick question?”) I said, “None really”. IO: Welcome back! With that I went off to pick my luggage. I scanned the luggage conveyor belt for a while… nothing. Exhausted but chill and with hubby still way out, navigating the highways, I took my time. I watched the luggage spin round and round: green cases, black cases, pink cases, checkered cases, cases with bright colored strings (you know the pieces of cloth torn off dresses or belts—the ones used to tie sacks of cassava or millet? Ya! People real know how to mark their luggage, so it stands out). My cases: one maroon-soft cover and one green-hard cover were nowhere in sight. A muffled announcement ca