“Remember this feeling, there is something called love. I would say remember, there is something called freedom, even if you can’t see it. There is me calling you, in a world I don’t control.”
                -Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, page 32

                Walking beneath the changing leaves today, the fall light’s glow showing the sycamores green in their growing gold, and my partner and I hold hands to cross a busy street. A few days ago, as we were driving back home, she started giving me a tour of our neighborhood. There’s the gas station where I bought a wrench when your car died. We started giving each other a tour. Every block, a few times each block, there was something to point out. This is where we got our tomato plants. This is where the raccoon lives. This is where we first read Undrowned together.
                Tonight I go back to that. Tomorrow I’ll fly off to an academic conference where, for the second time, I get to hear Alexis Pauline Gumbs speak. That’s wonderful. Today’s been busy. That hustle hustle— there’s always so much on a to do list, isn’t there? And our walks together—the sycamores—our ongoing neighbor-ing with this raccoon—these are the feelings, calling. Guiding. Bringing us home.