The Thomas Jensen Journal Vol. Two

Vol. II of The Thomas Jensen Journal is available now on Amazon. For those of you who have KDP Unlimited–it’s free! Here’s an excerpt to get you started …

September 1
Ellyce has been in school for a full week, and we’ve been trying to get into our new normal.  I can hardly believe that my little girl has started school. For the first time in my life, I find myself a little untethered and thinking that the house is too quiet while she’s away at school. It’s in these quiet moments I realize just how different my life is. A year ago, non-stop physical labor was the norm—but now my days are spent reading or researching a considerable part of the day.

Thankfully, the house remodel has kept me active. And if I can say so, this little place is shaping up pretty nice. Though, I still can’t get over having everything taken care of right now.  I feel like a trust fund kid—which should make me feel right at home in this town, but there’s something off about it. And it doesn’t feel like home. Will anything ever feel like home again? Maybe. One day. We’ll see.

We’ll also see about the mommy blonde. I’ve been wondering how long it would take her to reach out after the kids were gone all day. The answer—if anyone cares… two days. She showed up on the porch about twenty minutes after I got back from dropping off Elle. I ran back into the house to grab my jacket and when I turned to leave again, there she was. Standing on the porch with her fists curled up in a tight ball, ready to strike. She giggled—in a weird, forced way, and tried her best to stop me from pushing her down the path and to her car parked at the curb. I told her I had an appointment—and I couldn’t keep the people waiting. It was mostly true. There were people waiting at the library in the books I needed to read. So, not technically a lie. Man, I’m becoming quite the nerd.

On the research front: The land of Finish seems similar to ours, but it doesn’t have a fall or spring season. The year is divided into two: Summer and Winter. Summer is five months long and winter is a cold and unbearable seven. Finish history books also record a lot of names and births and places, but rarely do they record the fact of how any of the details on the page came into existence. These people are going to force me to hone my research skills.

September 4—Labor Day
Had planned to go to the bookstore to see Raz today. Is that even her real name? I wanted to learn more about those names and genealogies, but Elle’s school is closed. Didn’t they just start a week or so ago? Guess I’ll have to reschedule for tomorrow. In the meantime, we’re off to the annual Hayvenhurst Labor Day picnic and parade. We’ll see just how fresh the sweet corn is in Southern California.

Update: Sweet corn is not a thing in SoCal. And Elle’s school does this “Kinde-partner” pairing thing to help the kids transition and have a friend. Met her partner tonight. A kid named Benson, along with his parents—Jim and Jessica. He seems like a good enough kid. As long as he keeps his grubby little paste-eating hands to himself.