Sweet November

One of my favorite movies of all time is that wonderful romantic comedy Sweet November starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves.

Just kidding, I've never seen it. But since it's a rom-com with K. Reeves, i probably should, amiright.

But November.  November, November. The loveliest-sounding month of all the months.  If I were to name a child after a month, this would be it.   November is the mature autumn.  November is the fall that comes after the glitz and candy shock of widely-beloved October. It's subdued, demure, calming and lovely.  The leaves are still on the trees, it's not yet freezing.  Visions of maize and gourds and cornucopias dance in our head.    November is scarves and boots and hot cider, proper.  In October everyone's just playing fall, excited to wear all our fall attire and pick out a pumpkin.   In November we've settled in. It's become natural, and with the calm of Thanksgiving before the storm of Christmas, we're happy, we're thankful, we're just enjoying the season.

This morning I drove with the yellow and browns and muted reds before me, the bright sun of the morning behind me, lighting ablaze all of the colors along my way. All was bright and warm. It was a moment saying "pay attention to me, because it won't last forever" and I'm glad I was able to.

Later today, in the afternoon of this November fall, Julian and I visited the botanic gardens. It's still pretty. We're catching the tail end of it.  It's funny with the fall, how one storm can end it all.  One storm of rain or wind.  It's so fragile, this fall.  All we can do is watch it and hope it doesn't break but know it will and when it does say, awww...   After that we hustled home and warmed ourselves by the TV.   Suffering from what I would rate a "monster" on the headache scale, I sent Julian in the bedroom for some Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and I administered myself a good dose of Gregory Peck in the form of Roman Holiday.  I had taken a Tylenol but these days it doesn't seem to do much and i'm pretty sure i'm giving myself stomach ulcers.   But the movie, coupled with some chocolate covered raisins activated the pleasure center of my brain and I am convinced it healed my headache more than any pill ever would. And it further proves this theory.  So let me give you a tip: If you're hurting, consider some Gregory before you open the medicine cabinet. Unless you keep To Kill a Mockingbird in the medicine cabinet, like any normal person would, and should.  I sent a text to Valerie re-declaring my love for Mr. Peck, exclaiming that in this movie, he was like a rascally Atticus Finch--RAWRR.  I'd never seen the movie in full. Watch it now. Listen to me, I'm a doctor.

After Julian's show ended, he came to find me, hurt himself, crawled onto my lap crying and helped me watch the end of the movie.  When it was over, we debated the next thing we should do.  We finally settled on a documentary of LOTR. This is exciting because a) it's LOTR and b) Sean has begun telling him the story at bedtime and it's just the most adorably exciting thing you've ever seen. He is ENRAPTURED, and i can't wait to read the books and show him the movies. After he fell asleep in my arms, i watched a bit longer, then laid him down to cook up some pasta.  Trying to decide on which pandora station to settle on on the Apple TV, I finally decided to start a new one called Frederic Chopin and when the first notes began to play, I began to cry, because I forgot that Chopin, in just a few measures, plays out perfectly all of my emotions.  It's so weird when something artistic touches you immediately. Like, i wasn't feeling particularly sentimental or melancholy or anything in the moment.  It was just the chemical reaction of the reconnection of the soul and the music. Just science.  And all of this, all of the things I've just talked about, have made for rather a lovely day.