Thirty-One

I'm looking at the clock on my desktop and it's telling me that it's the last day of November.  We have one month left in 2010, girls and boys.  That's thirty-one more precious sunrises; thirty-one more city sunsets; and for some of us ladies, perhaps just one more round of bloating, cravings, and cramps (sorry, fellas).  And then?  The big one-one-one-one (1/1/11 - see how that works?).

This all means that there's only one thing left to do: Make each of those 31 parts of December count.

Bethesda Terrace, New York Central Park
2:54 p.m., Sunday, November 21, 2010

For starters, I concluded my stint as a Manhattan nanny last week.  I had what one would call a tremendous learning experience, one that reminded me of the goodness and sweetness of children and the blazing powers of nature vs. nurture.  I played for hours in icy cold sprinklers, lectured way too often on the merits of soft poopies over hard, and logged several hundreds of miles pushing a stroller with one hand, the other clutching half a dozen balloons or a bulky art project or umbrella about to flip inside out caught in an UWS wind tunnel.  Good times were had.

I can tell you one thing for sure: nannying sure beats sitting in front of a computer formatting pivot tables to analyze sell-thru results on how much overpriced wrinkle cream sold at Bergdorf Goodman last week.  I mean, who has money to blow four hundred dollars on two ounces of something that costs less than twenty to manufacture, package, and ship across the Atlantic?  Idiots.

End digression.

And now I've accepted an assignment as an editor at a publishing company.  I know!  Those of you who have followed my story are probably scratching your heads, but trust me, it's not entirely random.  It makes me laugh, really, how wacky my personal journey has been so far.  It twists and turns with very few road signs to direct the way, but it's my road, my very own path, so here's my attempt to stop the fretting and embrace it.

When things are slow, it makes you wonder exactly how much you'd feel if you threw yourself in front of the oncoming three train; but when they're moving, there's no time to wonder or think.  You just say "yes" and move forward.  And if you're anything like me, you pray, second-guess yourself, pray, second-guess yourself some more, and then pray some more.  I pray, I pray, I pray.  I do, I do, I do.

Day 1 of 31 is tomorrow.  Let's make it count, friends.