Crackers

The cracker experiment may be the only experiment that teachers made me do in both the first and tenth grades.

Both teachers used the same set-up: "Chew this cracker thirty times — and learn a little something about chemistry in the process."

By about the eighth chew, I was worried I might run out of cracker. So, I gathered, were my classmates. Giggling softly, we forced our jaws to perform micromovements ("....twenty-six....twenty-seven...twenty-eight...."). Our saliva's enzymes broke the carbohydrates into simpler sugars, and the salty starches began to taste sweet.

Sometimes revising my manuscript can be like this. Revisited, that which seemed bland will occasionally turn sweet.

Meanwhile, spring has broken with astonishing loveliness. Adam and I have kissed and made our peace. I'm still behind on deadlines, but am managing to tackle one little thing at a time. Now that the sun is shining, I've laughed out loud at how little time remains. Either I'm going crazy or I have gained perspective. Hard to say which is which.