I did not sleep without a light on until I was twenty five years old unless someone else was in the room with me. That's how much of a scaredy cat I was. Afraid of ghosts, bad guys, the dark, my own imagination...In hotels on layovers when I was a flight attendant, I slept with not only lights on but also the television turned up full volume. (No wonder I had trouble sleeping!) Then I moved to NYC. I got into my bed--really a door on risers with a piece o foam over it. The lights and sounds from Sullivan Street filled my room just enough to comfort rather than frighten me.I closed my eyes, and New York City lulled me to sleep. Some people find it funny that a place that many find frightening or dangerous makes me feel safe. But I love knowing that right out my window there is an entire world, awake and alive beside me. So this morning when I woke up to the sound of delivery trucks at D'Agostino's across the street, I smiled.
It is warm enough here this week for me to have the windows open, and even as I write this I hear passers by, out early, talking as they move past my window. A car radio played too loud. Car horns in the distance. Mild traffic. The world right there, singing to me.
Yesterday I walked and walked and walked in the beautiful spring like weather. I met a friend for lunch midtown, and then decided to walk up Fifth Avenue, forgetting it was Christmas time. What a delight to stand in front of the windows at Saks and gaze at their Christmas display. I had to go over to Rockefeller Center then to see the tree, and the beautiful angels that line the path to it. I stopped in St. Patrick's Cathedral before heading back home. And then in my neighborhood, street corners filled with Christmas trees for sale greeted me as I emerged from the subway. I know how people grumble about the commercialization of Christmas. I too don't think we should leave our Thanksgiving tables to go and shop at Target. But surely Christmas, like everything in life, is what we make of it. I love the ritual, the smell of Christmas trees, the world lit with tiny white lights, the baby dressed in a Santa onesie, Annabelle still young enough to believe in Santa (and wanting to sew him an apron), our own ornaments, my study filled with gifts I bought with thought and love...Yes, I am a sucker for all of it.
Still catching up on make up classes due to the hurricane. So my hours are spent reading student stories and in class time. So many of my own stories that I want to get back to, but it won't happen for another week or two.
Remember when I was going to knit a blanket for each kid? Well, I have almost finished the first one. Typical knitting problem. Big ideas, too little time to accomplish them. But if I can finish Sam's this week, I might get a third of Annabelle's done before Christmas. She knows about the project, so I can probably get away with wrapping what I have for her.
I'm also getting very excited about the three trips I have on the horizon. (I actually have more than three, but I'm focused on the first bunch!) We leave on December 27 for Norway, and a trip by boat up to the Arctic Circle in search of the Northern Lights. Just a few weeks after we return, Lorne and I are going for a long weekend to Cartagena, Colombia. And then in June Cousin Gina is joining Annabelle and me in Alaska. All three new places to me, so I am full of excitement and dreaming about them.
My January workshop is nice and full. That will be a lovely weekend, I know.
Now, off to meet with a student, then lunch with an old friend, and some Christmas shopping as I make my way back from lunch to here.
Happy knitting to all you knitters! I hope you are making more progress than I am!
