Monday, February 11, 2008

What is significant about February 11?

For the past few days in various conversations with various people GK will suddenly say, "What is February 11?" Without exception the other person would respond, "I don't know, why? President's day?" No president's day is officially the 12th I think. Although he could never give a good answer as to why the fixation with February 11, he just kept asking hoping that someone would be able to enlighten him.

Well, it's almost 8:00 here in New York City and little of consequence has occurred in my life to make today stand apart (other than the fact that it was FREEZING today). We went to Seminary, came home and took a little nap, woke up and picked up some groceries, made lunch, went into town to see a man about our phones, went and saw the Jack Keroac scroll at the New York City public library, dropped GK off at school, ran some errands purchasing and returning various items, hopped on the train (got a seat the whole ride home, not an easy task at rush hour, and I didn't even have to knock anyone out of the way), made dinner, addressed some valentines and then began catching up on my blogfriends. Actually in review it was a very fun day. It was productive and spontaneously adventurous... the Keroac thing was totally unplanned. But it wasn't the kind of day that GK necessarily should have been looking forward to for three days... Oh well, I suppose we'll never know what the significance of February 11 is, so I'm glad we made our own.

I've realized recently how easy it is to just let the days pass. It's easy to allow life to plow on becoming entrenched and overwhelmed by the daily grind. But life has loveliness to sell. There is so much good. Every once in a while GK (particularly at this time of year) starts going a little stir crazy. He needs to get out and have an adventure. On Saturday, in response to such an occurance we rode our bikes in the cold wind along the shore of Brooklyn down to Coney Island and then rode the train back. It's something we've talked about doing but were waiting for "better" weather to do it in. I'm grateful for my wanderer. I'm glad that he doesn't like to sit still for too long. I'm glad that when we come out of the subway and see the Jack Keroac banner hanging above the library doors that he wants to share it with me. I'm sure those opportunities come more often than I notice, so watch out world... my eyes are open.

7 comments:

Derek Bitter, M.A. said...

It's Thomas Edison's birthday, everyone knows that. You wouldn't be seeing the world without him. And did you read my latest blog? Nobody comments, but I figured I could at least count on you for a, "good thoughts derek, you're way smarter than gk" kind of comment.

Dad Risser said...

Susanna, I love your narratives. Keep 'em going.

Jennifer said...

Hey my response to Feb 11 would be that it is crazy little Jett's Birthday.

Susanna said...

that is worth celebrating for sure. i love that kid. we tried to kidnap him once.

Teri said...

I think that GK subconsciously remembered that our baby was supposed to be born on February 11th but she surprised us a bit early. In future years he will need to remember the significance of February 8th. Got that?!

Amberly said...

I love the reminder that the days pass too easily. It's nice that you have someone with you always that will pull you into a journey worth remembering. enjoy your fancy-free days!

Bryan, Mary, Abby & Lorin said...

I love this post. Thoughtful and joyous. And, it was great to meet you finally at Hillary's. I think Hillary and I are planning a trip to Brooklyn one of these days, and we need to meet up again. Tell GK hello!