I awoke today in the transition between dusk and dawn and could hear the wind rattling everything that would rattle. It was Fall knocking on Summer's door saying, "Sorry, I got caught up with an old friend and lost track of time, but I'm here now."
I fell asleep in the heat of a summer eve and woke to the cool, wet, windy emergence of fall.
I adore fall. It's my favorite of all the seasons (but I suspect I say that to all of them...) I love watching the trees catch fire. I love the crunchy sounds discarded leaves make beneath my feet as I stomp through city parks. I love the smells, the tastes.
This morning, after making a French Press Pot of Glorious Coffee, I have settled into my library with a Pandora station centered on the music of Iron & Wine. It's been a good time to reflect on the craziness of this whirlwind of a week that finally finished. It's been a good time to catch my breath, to practice my breathing.
Wednesday I went in to get a massage before work and the therapist noticed that I was not breathing into my chest, only my abdomen, so he did some work to open up and loosen my chest and showed me how to breathe again. At the end of the session I was light-headed from the increased oxygen. I've learned that when I have an increase in stress, I often forget to breathe and breathing, as we know, is ever so important.
Thursday I met up with my husband and College Brother to grab some dinner and hang out. We ended up at Signal Station Pizza and enjoyed a lovely meal sitting outside. Afterwards we ended up going for a walk through St. John's. When we got to the bookstore I couldn't resist the allure and so we wandered in.
Despite spending too many hours in a bookstore already this week, it was too difficult not to want to peak in. It's always fun to see the same books you know and love in a different setting. It's almost like meeting up with a good friend when you weren't exactly expecting it. They look the same...and yet different. I wandered the aisles, looking at old flames and catching the eye of a few attractive new faces.
I wandered into the Young Adult section (which my brother pointed out contained the Captain Underpants series...) and was surprised to see the only John Green book they had was the one he wrote with David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I really did enjoy that book, but of all the John Green books available (like Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns) I was just surprised. I picked one up and noticed a flash of gold on the cover and discovered it was a "signed copy." "Well," I thought to myself, "Surely it's not signed by BOTH of them." I opened to the title page and found that indeed it WAS signed by both. "Well," I said, "Surely it's not a first edition." But it was and so I was left with no choice but to buy a book I already owned in digital form.
My husband just smiled and explained to my brother that this would be a "top shelf book." The top shelves of one of the bookcases in the library are reserved for the very rare books, including my increasing collection of signed editions.
Now the wind is picking up outside and I'm watching the red leaves shadow the sky on their way to the ground and I feel grateful to have this day and the next to read, write, listen to music, breathe. Good morning.
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