Though she was born at the end of October, our elder daughter decided to celebrate her birthday this year on November 1st.
We spent the day at an amusement park with three of her friends. It was our first time there; we kept the paper map out and spent a lot of time walking back and forth along the same path, seeing new things as we went.
November 1, in a way, turned out to be a great day to try something new to celebrate her new year. The start of this particular new month, it feels like the yet-to-be-experienced adventures are lined up and ready for us to dive in. She's going on her first sleepaway camp that involves both a plane trip and no parental accompaniment. (And could not be more completely thrilled.)
And for me: It's the start of National Novel Writing Month AND National Blog Post a Day Month. And my full time work life is fuller than ever. There's something hopeful about a fresh new month. This all feels consistent with being a morning person; I wake up feeling like I'm getting a fresh start (before you start to hate, be assured that I often go to bed grumpy).
For me, this is fuller than the normal chaos of kids, full time work, and all the attendant activities those things entail. I often feel like the busier I am, the more I get done. After I get over feeling anxious about it all. I've come to realize that I'm a person who tends toward anxiety, but I'm just polite enough to keep it the eff to myself and find calm, which is also part of me, when I'm in public. It's how to get things done!
Maybe the real linchpin here is that I'm also doing a 30 day yoga challenge with the charming Yoga With Adriene. It's a gentle, forgiving practice that I actually feel like i can do, catch upon if I miss, and generally feel good and healthy about.
Or maybe the real linchpin is that I've now publicly told you all that I'm doing all this, so that when November 30 rolls around, as it will any day now, I can look back with you and say, "I did it! This year, I didn't just wish I did it."
Just keeping the typing, driving, lunch-making, school-taking, chore-doing, yoga-posing, work-doing hands moving. If you're trying something new for November too, tweet me @Anita_Sarah.