We live in the country. Snakes are a fact of life. I appreciate their presence, actually, living under our home, hopefully keeping the wild rodents out of our house. Rodents eat people food and are quite destructive about it. Snakes do not. Snakes eat those pesky rodents.

Too many women fall into the habit of doing and doing and doing—making the plans, smoothing the arguments, offering the kindness, extending the understanding. After a while they’re tired. But by then they’ve invested so much effort that walking away feels like admitting all that work was wasted.

We arise early most days, between 4 and 5 a.m., and leisurely go through a couple of cups each while reading what interests us on our respective glowing devices. Every so often, one of us will share something we’re reading and a discussion may ensue.