As the autumn marches on and the calendar year draws to a close, as the nights grow longer and the days grow colder, I find myself (as usual) in a space of reflection and looking inward, even as my life outwardly expands and several of its threads weave toward something resembling climax and resolution. After a busy October filled with family time, a lot of traveling, and photography, things have settled out. The grandparents have gone home; the systole of the academic year has begun to relax into diastole; and several resolutions I made for the year seem to be culminating in the space of these few weeks. After a lot of introspection last year, I set into motion a series of life goals that had laid dormant for awhile. I took better care of my body, putting together a consistent fitness plan that saw me gearing up for my first half-marathon in over five years (since the 2019 BRF that I ran with co-fellows). I pursued my passions more fiercely, with support from Jane - traveling solo, exploring through photography, pursuing weeknight and weekend coursework in field naturalism, and devoting more energy to spiritual practice and creative writing. It’s been a year of blossoming, and regaining confidence that I’m carving out the lifeway that I want to live, and model for Jordan and others. I won’t say that it’s a finished piece; it never is. The questions still come regularly, even relentlessly — am I doing what I should? Is it enough? In my professional life? In my family life? I may never know the answers, but I will keep trusting myself to look and ask and adjust. After all, there’s never enough time. And yet, there’s still time. And how much less beautiful and precious it would all be, if we always had enough.
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October 31, 2024: Jordan’s second Halloween. We dress up as the mom and dad from My Neighbour Totoro (Jordan is, obviously, Totoro) and pick the man up early from daycare to go trick-or-treating on nearby Toxteth Street. Jordan enjoys socializing with a giant animatronic skeleton, and running up porches to take candy (once in awhile managing to say “peese” and “tank you”).
November 2, 2024: A day out with Mass Audubon’s Field Naturalist Certificate Program, at the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, MA. Our class spends the morning looking for animal sign on the shore and in the woods surrounding Houghton's Pond, and in the afternoon visit the top of the Great Blue Hill to hear learn about the weather observatory at the summit and view the surrounding watersheds from the highest point within ten miles of the Atlantic coast south of Maine. Helicopters go buzzing by, fighting nearby brushfires throughout Norfolk County. The afternoon ends with a freshwater habitat survey exercise (catching tadpoles and invertebrates!) beside the pond near the Blue Hills Trailside Museum.
November 10, 2024: The 2024 Boston Half-Marathon, my first distance race in over five years. Despite the intervening years of pandemic, parenthood, and generalized aging, I have had a lot of fun getting back into running this year, and hope to continue the fitness kick into next year. It’s not my fastest half-marathon (that was the 2013 BRF, by about seven minutes), but it’s, by far, the most confident and prepared I have felt for the half-marathon distance. In large part, I had an enormous mental edge because over two-thirds of the course replicated my training routes along the Emerald Neckalce since this past spring - not dissimilar to the experience I had running through the BRF course through East Baltimore, Homewood, Mt. Vernon, and the Inner Harbor. I run a steady 10-11 min/mile pace, without any dehydration or muscle cramping. Notwithstanding some knee soreness and runner’s toe, and despite a ridiculously tough and hilly final four miles in Franklin Park, it’s the best I’ve ever felt closing out a race.
November 16, 2024: My penultimate Saturday out with the Field Naturalist Certificate Program. I spend the day exploring along Boston’s waterfront, examining the effects of the king tide (spring tide coinciding with perihelion and perigee) on the coastline, and documenting the effects of anthropogenic climate change - as well as the ways that local communities are developing strategies to mitigate and resist its effects. After a fantastic day thinking about the coastal landscape from the lens of environmental justice, our class ends the afternoon at beautiful Belle Isle Marsh between East Boston and Revere.
November 23, 2024: A final Saturday spent with the Fall 2024 FNCP crew, reflecting on our time together at the Boston Nature Center and learning about dendrology at the Arnold Arboretum.
