On Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving, all!  I am thankful that people read these words.
This blog will resume on Monday, December 2nd.  (Where did the time go?)

On Naked Neighbor Guy

Shadeless Windows.

Admit it.  It's impossible to look away when you accidentally stumble upon a neighbor across the way, parading around the "privacy of his/her own home" without pants on-or worse! Joining the shameless contingent of gawking bystanders, you fill moments of disbelief with casual references to Friends followed by harmless debate over which character you would be in real life (always wishing for Rachel but knowing you're really a Monica or Phoebe.) Circling back to naked neighbor guy, you goggle for another minute or two only to quickly lose interest and move on to real entertainment-TV.  Enjoy!

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On Business Partners

Inside the Home.

Fantasizing what it would be like to go into business with my husband, rather than focus on the obvious pros (Lunchtime together everyday, and Casual Jean Fridays!), the real question is whether we'd make compatible co-workers or not.  He's good with the numbers but I can hold my own.  Socializing is my specialty but he can network like a pro.  He thinks on his feet, makes decisions quickly, and moves on, while I mull things over, anticipate multiple perspectives and plan for the long-term.  All in all, I'd say we'd be a huge success with the best part being bonus season, where we'd exchange gifts rather than pensions, preferably multiple times per year.  Enjoy!

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On Medical Advice

Annual Checkups.

I'll confess off the bat that I'm every doctor's unfavorable dream (-nightmare sounded too harsh), ready at a moment's checkup to ask a plethora of questions they'd rather leave at medical school and, in one of my finer moments, hunched over an actual sketch of the human thyroid trying to understand this semi-relevant organ's necessity (I totally gave brownie points the doctor who drew for me).  But I'm also a healthy patient, all too keenly aware of what can go wrong with the human body (in a freaked out "Woody Allen-esque" kind of fashion), motivated to ensure those annual checkups (booked before they can blink) are filled with positive news and small talk.  Enjoy!

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On (Our) Wedding Guest Postcards

Every Monday...

Every Monday, my mother drops another postcard at the Brooklyn post office with our names on it.  Wedding guest sentiments, scrawled drunkenly at our "guest book" table on August 31st, arrive on our doorstep week after week, reminding us of the good friendships (near and far) who celebrated our matrimonial declaration well into the night.  Each message reflects the senses of humor, sentimentality, and character that draws us to all these people in the first place. And so we take a moment together to privately appreciate those who means so much, and hope ears are burning constantly.  Enjoy!

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On (Not) Wanting Children

Being Upfront.

As friends navigate the dating world in their semi-optimistic search for a long-term significant other, being honest about wanting - or not wanting - children is a must.  Once the preferences are shared, having the stamina to pick up and move on is a completely other story - one that requires stamina, confidence, and the strong will to recognize that compromise will never be an option.  Enjoy!

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On Our Ex's Leftovers

Craigslist Garage Sale.

When you build a relationship with someone, you inevitably collect things that - if and when you part ways - end up sticking around for a while thereafter.  That recycled framed art he gave you for Christmas 2003; those bed sheets you picked out together the summer Ikea first opened in Red Hook; the kitchen table he surprised you with when you got back from overseas; the crystal from his first engagement.  And with each new beginning, you debate over what to keep and what to toss, based on good and bad memories, price tag comparisons, and how you define new beginnings. Enjoy!  


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On the Suburbs?!?!?!?

YIKES.

More and more these days, as friends settle down and begin the pre-stages of family planning, emails pop up with lines like, I never thought I'd say this BUT- and I bit the bullet and moved to [insert suburban sprawl.]  And so it has begun, the once-lifelong New Yorkers seriously reconsidering their much sought after urban streets, now dominated by relocating twenty-somethings, in exchange for peace, quiet, and New Jersey (no offense).  Enjoy!

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On a Coloradan Conference

Spending the day with Coloradan colleagues at a work conference.  This blog will resume on Monday, November 18th!

On Unexpected Mail

Pleasant Surprises.

While the joy experienced from snail mailing a gift is frequently one-sided, given that you can't actually see the reaction of the person discovering-and then opening-the carefully selected item, the concept of receiving unexpected postal mail must be a near universal happiness. And it's with this hope and understanding that I excitedly prepare birthday and holiday gifts alike, each fall, winter, and spring, for the few friends (and family members) whose joy I can distinctly imagine.  Enjoy!

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On(line) RSVPing...Ugh.

The Pressure!

The evite is sent and the pressure is on, with the online RSVP system inviting ridicule and judgment from everyone included.  Gone are the days when the decision-to attend or not to attend-is anonymously licked and sent, followed by a three day lag on account of postal service snail mail, just enough time for the immediate guilt to wear off.  Today, we are forced to make a public choice way too prematurely to comfortably commit, in addition to concocting a series of thoughtful sentiments (Soooooo sorry to miss this - out of town for my cousin's mother's step-sister's talent show!) in response to an impersonal invitation, that will inevitably be read (and reacted to) by family members and strangers alike.  Unless, of course, we take the RSVP-less way out, leaving the invitation hosts (who insist that a facebook invite actually counts; does it though?) potentially wondering if you'll show up in the first place. Enjoy!

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On Courting Friends

"Girl Crushes."

I've definitely had my fair share of "girl crushes" over the last decade (you know who you are), those far and few between seemingly highly compatible girlfriends who you met through mutual companions during which you immediately hit it off and leave the evening making six months worth of mutually exclusive plans (cooking club! book club! any excuse for a club!).  Before you know it, you're finishing each other's sentences, delighted to discover new commonalities (favorite book! favorite show! favorite character!). Nothing draws attention to this courtship more than relocating to a new City and State, where you're forced to court everyone within a certain age bracket for fear you'll end up alone on Friday nights...too many consecutive weeks worth counting.  And so, new acquaintance after new acquaintance, the cheese get sliced, the wine gets poured, and hopes are ignited that this will be the one - the new friend in your life where conversations will flow effortlessly and reminiscing will be mindlessly replaced by the exchange of  facts about pasts unknown.  Enjoy!

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On My Home State

Due to a 48-hour trip to New York, this blog will resume on Tuesday, November 12th.  Happy weekend and happy birthday to my dad!

On My Grandmother and I

Glimpsing the Past.

The few old photographs framed around my apartment bring glimpses of the past on a regular basis, however hazy the details.  In this one picture in particular, tucked in between earrings and necklaces in my red velvet jewelry box, is a picture from the mid 90s of my grandmother and I.  We're sitting in the pews of a synagogue during a Jewish holiday, no doubt, and I look miserable and sullen, as most pre-teens during obligatory family gatherings do, in my over-sized t-shirt and homemade, knee-length, cutoff jeans.  She's leaning forward nudging me to force a smile, and while I don't remember this exact moment in time, I easily recall the feeling of being cranky from adolescence but happy amongst family, and most definitely counting down until dinner time where I would inevitably consume my grandmother's famous matzah ball soup.  Enjoy!  

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On Our First Date

Near Effortlessness.

From the moment we first met, it has been near effortlessness-laughing at a moment's notice during uneventful household chores, holding hands on our 20-minute morning commute, and complementing each other's perspectives when hard decisions need to be made.  But four and a half years ago, when he gchatted me at work to ask if I wanted to split a turkey club at a nearby sandwich shop after work - "like a real date or something"- the exchange was far from smooth.  Eager to formalize our two-month "non-relationship," I dabbed on faded blush and a thin layer of lipstick to make my end-of-work-day glow appear ever-so-slightly polished and nervously headed down 5th avenue in the West Village towards Grey Dog on University Place, purposely late to avoid being the one to wait.  The minute we awkwardly united, the usual ease instantaneously resumed, and almost five years later-married and co-habitating in Colorado-turkey clubs are still a favorite date or something. Enjoy!

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On the Open Road

Windows Down.

The longest road trip I've been on was a ten day excursion during the summer of 1999, when my sister relocated from New York City to California, a few short weeks before I returned for another summer at sleep away camp (my real joy) and her and I parted cities for the foreseeable decades to come.  First stop, Amish country (aka Pennsylvania), where we were in bed by 5pm watching reruns of daytime soaps.  A few days later, we broke into Boys Town to spy on the students described so eloquently in a Neil Diamond song we'd just played on repeat on the uninspiring highway.  We eventually made it to Estes Park, camping out (in cabins) at the YMCA, where we joined traveling families for arts and crafts and hot cocoa. And our last stop, ironically, was Denver, a city I spent less than an hour in eating lunch with a college friend, wishing my sister luck on her new adventure, and excitedly returning to the east coast.  Enjoy!
 
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On Being a Blogger...

 
...is to write...

...day after day, whether the words flow effortlessly or against all realms of gravity, creating incoherent thoughts about coherent experiences that the majority of us relate to in the most private moments of our miniscule lives.  Our thoughts are the same even when they're different, as we navigate the same walls of the same relationships on same earth, that are also unlike any other in existence and yet all alike simultaneously.  These articles (posted here on this particular blog) ring true, in part, because we are collectively humbled, troubled and inspired by people, music, and magnificent stories that describe the way we we feel, live, and breathe, read and (enjoy).  

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On a Beautiful City

Right Angles Galore.

I love those moments when you’re walking in your neighborhood and suddenly nothing is familiar. In a good way...You become a visitor to your own home, taking in details of strange buildings and people with a newness and excitement that only exists in a moment that is first discovered.  Enjoy!

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