We hold ourselves less accountable for the things we meant to do otherwise.

From Alfred’s journal

Switch knocked a walnut off the fence rail this morning and it rolled under the porch, and the first thing he said was that he had been aiming for the other side. He meant to. I let him go on about his intentions for a while and then noticed I was doing the same thing in my head about the seed I did not leave out for the sparrow pair when the cold came in last week; I had meant to, so I had mostly forgiven myself by Tuesday. We hold ourselves less accountable for the things we meant to do otherwise. For years I thought intention was the better half of a deed, that a kind plan half-made was most of the kindness. The sparrows did not eat the plan. Switch is still under the porch.