1. I have recurring dreams about losing my teeth, whether they are suddenly disintegrating, or I get hit by a bat, fall on my face or I subconciously work them loose by grinding and wiggling--it is always very upsetting, as you can imagine. Last night, I didn't have the dental insurance to pay for the bridgework, so I just had a gaping hole in my smile--again. And I'm always desperately happy when I wake up and realize it was only a dream--again.
2. I have a fear of being sneaked up on while I'm vaccuuming. This is because I can't hear anything. Worse case scenario is always an invader or burglar...
3. I have a hard time finishing a book. I can get right down to the last two chapters or so and have the worst kind of trouble trying to pick it up again. Doesn't matter how intrigued I am. Maybe I'm thinking, "well, I'm satisfied up to this point or it can't get any better than this..." and I don't see for myself whether it does. I've done this all my life, but only recently admitted to it.
4. I work at Starbucks and hate almost every single one of their drinks--what do they get right? Espresso. So I like Americanos (espresso in hot water). I make rhythms with the beeps on my register when I'm ringing someone up...and I count silently to myself as I fill the different size cups with hot coffee.
4b. I count things...as in how many seconds it takes to fill a cup of coffee. This is surely a latent tendency with its roots going back to childhood when my mother would count in order to get me to tinkle on the big potty or she would count out the chocolate chips she was giving me for a special snack...
5. I LOVE to do laundry. Check out Tide's Lavendar and Vanilla detergent. And how about that rolling around in the hot clothes? Just kidding, you know. I only take a nap on them.
6. Every time we are all together and sit down for a nice family dinner and we close our eyes for prayer, I take my arm and, without pause, wipe all the plates, glasses, bowls and hot food off the tablecloth and send them crashing to the floor--in my imagination--every time. Scott says Freud would love to analyze this.
If you feel the urge, post your own random facts!
My favorite: Carnitas (amazing pork) Fajita (grilled peppers and onion) Burrito Bol (not in a tortilla wrap) with mild salsa, sweet corn, cheese and sour cream.
Afterwards, I sat us down at our skinny red and white tree and gave him a colorful set of desperately needed serving bowls from Crate and Barrel...and a 100 year old copy of The Canterbury Tales, which was inscripted to George J. Gould Jr. (son of railroad tycoon) from Christmas 1907. Isn't that exciting?...Scott gave me a pair of leather gloves, since I lost my Marshall Fields pair at the Susan Graham concert last winter in Chicago, and a photographic snowflake book, called The Art of the Snowflake.
After our Christmas time together, Scott expressed the desire to go seek out the Blue Hills. I pushed him to go, since he's mentioned it a few times. So we printed a map, jumped in the car, picked up some apples and cheese and crackers and drove south of Boston, past Milton. The Blue Hills are 7,000 acres of beautiful hills, rocks, trails and hundreds of fresh spring creeks, complete with coyote, copperheads, dogwoods, lady's slippers, deer, turkey vultures and dragonflies. Can you believe it was my first time hiking? You can see the entire Boston Metropolitan area from the highest point. I couldn't stop pulling out the camera. We spent four hours there and I can hardly wait to go back--especially when its in full bloom.
After the bridge, I easily remembered to take the Hudson River Parkway to midtown.
We got a parking meter near Radio City,
walked a couple of blocks to the glorious Rockefellar tree,
and then a few more freezing blocks down to Time Square. It was a little odd being there just the day after New Years...one wouldn't really know it.
I found remnants of confetti, but nothing that looked written on by well-wishers.
We grabbed our coffee at a Starbucks in the middle of Time Square and headed back, since we didn't feed the meter much and since Josta was waiting in the car and since, well, I had to work at 5am...But, we will be back, now that we know how close it is and what a great birthday present it would make in May!
Mom found the instructions and templates to an old cherished ornament my grandma used to make, so we made one together! How extremely meaningful--I'm so glad we made the time to do that together, mom.
Having recently talked about death, and wishing impossibly that both I could be there for Scott at this moment and he for mine, we instead talked about life and how we want to live it, using New Year's Day in the cemetery as our inspiration. Walking through the rows of gravestones was sobering, but infused with hope and possibilities...
The fire is dying now my lamp is getting dim