and now, November

Today on the way in to work, I realized for perhaps the first time this fall how wonderful everything looks. I spend the entire year waiting for the leaves to change, and yet each time I have an inevitable moment of suddenly realizing that wow, the leaves have been changing and I live in such a beautiful place. I'm almost thankful for summer being so awful because it makes fall seem even more magical. Just like with anything else, the bad parts make the good parts even better.

Halloween is finally, finally over. It feels as though I've celebrated it over and over (maybe because I have) and I couldn't even muster the energy for a real costume last night. Adorned halfheartedly in cat ears, I spent the evening hanging out with Bea and Jenn, playing Super Mario 3, ignoring Evil Dead and drinking whiskey and Old E. It was probably a lot more fun than whatever festivities were happening around town.
Funny: at one point last night, Bea went looking for this porn of Dane's and never found it. Little did I know, at the same time Gretchen was getting ready to watch a scary movie she rented at the library with her boyfriend Mike, and it turned out to be porn. Library porn!

Yesterday was also closing day on our house in La Cygne. At about 6p, I got the following text message from my mom: "House closed today. I'm glad we were happy enough there to be sad. Love you." It's really sad to imagine never going there again, especially since I haven't been in awhile. The last time was not long after Mom had moved everything to the farm, and it was so depressing to see our cozy little house empty and alone that I cried and never went back again. That house was the first place to really feel like my home, where we literally started over and became more of a family than we'd ever been in the previous 17 years. We made that house our own, and while I wouldn't necessarily want to live there now, it was comforting to know it was there and I'm really going to miss it. Mom is right, though.. we're lucky to have each other, and to have had something so good that it's worth missing.

NaBloPoMo Day 1!

+++ The Dismemberment Plan/Change