One of Zailey’s nicknames is “b”. It stands for baby, brat, or bitch depending on what else is happening. She doesn’t respond to it; though she doesn’t really respond to her own name. I think if I use my dad voice (the gruff, short, and loud voice that belays that I’m upset), she knows when I say her name. I can’t really do my dad voice when I call her an initial. 

My wife hates when I call Zailey a bitch. If I call her a “b” and she asks which meaning I meant, the answer better be, “brat” or I’m in trouble. I usually say, “baby” in full when I call her that. The only problem is that I am lying when I answer that she is a brat. 

For various reasons, my stress level went through the roof this month. It has been a “b” and a half. I won’t complain about the issues I faced, but I will say that it has affected my writing. I’ve had to really work hard to get my life in order so that I could destress enough to write something competent. Usually writing has been a stress relief, but this month it hasn’t. 

Several causes of the stress has become manageable or at least under control. Hopefully, this means that writing will also resume being the stress relieving activity it once was. Then again, I have a busy September coming up, so I really need my stress to stay low in order to keep up where I want to be with my writing. 

So, here’s to the future and the hope that Zailey and my stress aren’t “b”s!