To Lindsey

I love you wife!!

Love,

Scott

While Scotty's Snoozing

Last night I smiled as the weatherman told me to expect cold, windy snow storms for the next few days.

As I drove to work today, I saw a ton of people out in their yards raking leaves and mowing the lawn. It made me so happy to think, "They're all preparing their yards to be covered in snow!"

It's been stormy all day. I'm tempted to throw my nephews out the window and see how far they could fly in the wind. We're babysitting tonight. For being outnumbered, I think we did pretty well tonight. There's nothing cooler than nephews... except maybe nieces... or maybe it's a tie.

Characters Daily

"People have always seemed funny and strange to me, and touching in unexpected ways. I can't shake off a sort of mist of irony that hangs over whatever I see. Probably that's what I'm trying to put across when I write; I may believe that I'm the one person who holds this view of things. And I'm always hurt when a reader says that I choose only bizarre or eccentric people to write about. It's not a matter of choice; it just seems to me that even the most ordinary person, in real life, will turn out to have something unusual at his center. I like to think that I might meet up with one of my past characters at the very next street corner."

-Anne Tyler

The Balloon lady in Vancouver. The French woman who comes daily into the store. The man from Laos with homemade bike by the library. My brother Doug. I love encountering people every day who are the characters of my stories.

Dear My Immediate World:

I'm writing in my journal again.

Sincerely,
Lindsey

November 18th is a day I've always remembered as one that draws attention to itself. Not only is it Mickey Mouse's birthday, having made his debut in "Steamboat Willie" at the Colony Theatre in New York City on November 18, 1928 (I don't know how I know this), but it is also (ironically) the day that I got my braces off...

...the first time.

Consciousness: knowing what you are thinking.

"Life will always give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness" (Unknown).

The further and further we endure, the more self-awareness we find and carry with us. When we come home to ourselves, we see where we literally were yesterday, and we try to explain to ourselves how we got where we are today. We may have walked circles so long that we're walking on the stubs of our ankles, but we evolve through our awareness, stop walking circles, and we find new paths to take with infinitely grander views.

Karin Paul told me when I was 13 that "life will never be more complicated than the moment you're living it."

Continuities

Thank you, Whitman, for the inspiring Monday thoughts...

Nothing is ever really lost, or can be lost,
No birth, identity, form—no object of the world.
Nor life, nor force, nor any visible thing;
Appearance must not foil, nor shifted sphere confuse thy brain.
Ample are time and space—ample the fields of Nature.
The body, sluggish, aged, cold—the embers left from earlier fires,
The light in the eye grown dim, shall duly flame again;
The sun now low in the west rises for mornings and for noons continual;
To frozen clods ever the spring's invisible law returns,
With grass and flowers and summer fruits and corn.

(And thank you to my boss, who sent me home today so I wouldn't have 20 hours of overtime this week... only 12)

Miles and Bella

Moving on through October...

For Halloween this year, we were so happy that our friends joined us for a Murder Mystery dinner! Since Annie and John left town, we were lucky that Loral's sister Rachel and Manti were able to round out the group!

I had to work until right about the time the party started, so I set everything up before work and was surprised to come home and see the costume Scott put together for himself. I loved his paper mustache!


Behold the braces! This was my second day with braces! What was I thinking getting them the day before Halloween?! I couldn't even eat any of the dinner I made! (Loral... when you guys are all situated, can I get some of your pictures of the food?)


Scott is so great letting me get braces... and he's only called me braceface a handful of times. I may look fifteen again, but he's not telling me that! Here we are, Miles and Bella. Miles: a famous 20's racecar driver. Bella: a rising opera star. Little did we know... our characters were secretly twins!


My mom and dad were so great and let us throw the party at their house. The Murder Mystery took place on a figurative yacht, so being at my parent's house instead of our tiny apartment felt like we were on a luxurious yacht! We even got trick-or-treaters! Thanks so much for coming friends!!!!!

The Many Faces and Shades of Fall (now that I'm listening to Christmas music)

Oh the catch up that will come this evening. In the meantime, I wanted to record these pictures before giving my mom back her hard drive in about ten minutes. I took all these pictures at the cabin the weekend of conference!