ABC Thursdays: volumes H & B

Holidays
Every year in the early fall I start to panic. The best part of the year is fast upon us and I start to worry about how much fun we need to have. I have a long list of things I like for us to do to celebrate the holidays, from apple picking in September to counting down to the New Year. This year I have a little notebook to write down all of my holiday ideas. I’ve already sketched out Halloween costumes and Christmas card layouts. I’ve marked up my calendar with outings to corn mazes and Halloween parades. This year, and for years to come, we will celebrate well. Just try to stop me.

Heat
I am not so good in the heat. I prefer a cool day, a rainy day, a blizzard, a perfect Spring day to a hot day. Any day. There is something about the weight of the heat on my chest, feeling like I cannot breath or move or think that just gets me down. The sun starts to feel like an intrusive enemy, mocking me to come outside and then beating me down when I do. Those first days of fall, when I can finally put my jeans back on, when the air is fresh and the skies are overcast, often end up feeling like a reward for making it through summer.

Halloween
I love Halloween a lot. The costumes, the decorations, the pumpkins, the parades, the baking: it’s just a whole lot of crazy fun. October is definitely my favorite month.



Bagels
On Sunday mornings, Dave and Andrew go to the local bagel place to get bagels for breakfast. I love this routine, perhaps more than they do. I love that I don’t have to get right up and think about feeding hungry tummies first thing on Sunday morning. I love teasing Andrew about “no American cheese!” as he tries to decide if I’ve earned my cheddar. And sometimes, Dave comes back with a flavored coffee from the neighboring café. It’s a perfect routine for Sunday mornings. The rest of the week however….it’s up and at ‘em right away. There's just no getting around that, I’m afraid.

Brooklyn, resident of
We’ve lived in Brooklyn for 8 years now. And at this stage of the game, after many peaks and valleys, I like it. It’s home. I like our playground, riding the train to Andrew’s school, feeling like a part of something big, and the access we have to great places to go on the weekends. I like how living in Brooklyn makes us live small. We live in a two bedroom apartment that we are continuously purging so that we do not become overrun with stuff. I like how living in Brooklyn makes us live big. Dave has landed all kinds of great jobs with great people. I have lofty dreams of going back to school. There are so many opportunities for our kids to grow in whatever direction they want. This city is bursting at the seams with opportunity and that’s a pretty neat thing to say about the place where you live.