Fall feels a lot different in southern California, and it's the time I feel most homesick for brightly colored leaves and that first brisk bite of cold in the air. There's pumpkin spice muffins and hot chocolate (and pretty much anything else they can cram pumpkin spice flavoring into), but it all feels a little heretic to me when there are no grey skies and snow flurries to accompany them. The closest we get to the feeling of fall is on the evenings when we pack up our car with a couple of logs and the little tripod hibachi that doubles as cheap firepit and head to the beach. It gets dark a little sooner, and sitting around the crackling fire, listening to waves crash on the sand, gazing up at the stars together--well that's a little bit like a fall bonfire, isn't it? We also enjoyed a neighborhood block party and a couple of visits to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's house that brought some of those delicious fall feelings closer to the surface.
Meanwhile, there's something to be said for having good weather every day when you have a baby in tow. I do
not miss bundling a baby up to the teeth and then piling on an extra blanket or two for good measure every time I leave the house. If I forget to put some socks on Cora (or if she pulls them off), it's just no big deal. That said, I haven't actually taken her out as much as you might expect. I'm still (years later, it feels like) trying to figure out how to make my contribution to the world. Sometimes I feel like the world is against me, because there are so very few jobs a woman can do with a baby on her hip. And yet, I have grown pretty efficient at the work of mothering--Cora goes right to sleep when it's time for bed, she eats and naps on a schedule, and even if I didn't take time to snuggle and sing to her (which I do and
love) she gets so much snuggling and cuddling and playing from the kids when they're home that I sometimes feel practically irrelevant. I've been sifting through graduate programs both close to home and far away (my favorite is Leipzig University in Germany--the exact city where I've been dying to live, especially since the fateful day that the FIFA championship foretold our fate), largely discarding the idea of another degree in music, both because I'm a bit disenchanted with potential job opportunities in that field, and because I've begun to recognize that much of the important change that happens in this world begins with education about the problems, and frankly, the field of music may work to unite people and to soothe problems, but it contributes little to understanding and directly addressing them. So the fields in which I am currently looking (during Cora's nap times) are in fields of peace and justice and international affairs. I expect to reapply to law school, hopefully with an improved LSAT score, but also consider shorter programs in related fields. In keeping with those emphases in my life right now, I have attended a number of events at the University of San Diego's Kroc School of Peace and Justice Studies. On Veteran's Day, Addy accompanied me to an event called "Write for Peace" which once again brought together the women peacemakers that I had a chance to listen to in the spring--four women from Afghanistan, Israel, Botswana, and South Africa who have been active in promoting peace in their nations and among their people, as well as the writers who have been working to record their stories in an accessible way for the rest of us to learn from over the course of this year. I especially appreciated the opportunity to see two of my passions married in such a motivating and influential way. Aaron and I also had the chance to spend one of our date nights seeing the movie
Suffragette at the beginning of November, despite limited screenings. It was another reminder to me of the importance of empowering people on the margins of society, and the rich additions those people contribute to the world. It's stunning and a bit frightening to realize that only a century ago, women were considered unfit to put forward their own political ideas and agendas. How many people now are still in the same circumstances whether because of lack of suffrage or simply political corruption in their countries.
In terms of family activities, we had some good fun in October and November. My birthday was awesome--a delicious night at Benihana and then a birthday visit to Universal Studios the next day. We're trying hard to make up for our comparatively modest attendance during the months I was pregnant, followed by many black-out periods during the summer. It works out pretty well to get child-swap passes for the rides so that everyone gets to go, and there are so many fun things to see around the park that Cora doesn't seem to mind being toted around much at all. Coinciding with my birthday (though not really a birthday gift), I finally got a smart phone! I'm mostly pleased to have caught up with the rest of the world technologically, and it certainly is nice to have access to navigation features around the clock, but I can also feel the beckoning of the zombied existence that reigns in our culture. In many ways I would just as soon carry on with a device that has much more limited use, but convenience will out.
For Halloween this year, we kept things pretty simple. Asher wouldn't even dress up a bit, which I guess means that he's outgrown the holiday. I still hold out hope that I'll be able to rope him in some year in the future, but as things now stand, I don't really mind having one less costume to worry about. Addy dressed up as a devil and went trick-or-treating with her friend Madison, who dressed as an angel. Emerson dressed up as a Jedi and planned to trick-or-treat with a fellow Jedi until his friend made a last-minute visit to his grandmother's house. Luckily, he caught up with some other friends for the business of candy collection, but there were no matching outfits involved. Sera used an old werewolf mask and a furry jacket to play the wolf to her friend Alyssa's Little Red Riding Hood. They were pretty adorable, and it was a match that perfectly played to their dramatically different heights. Meanwhile, I dressed Cora in the costume I had planned about thirty seconds after we found out we were having another baby--she was my little Dalmatian, and I was Cruella DeVil. I never quite got my makeup together like I should have, but we made a pretty cute pair all the same.
In November, I got around to taking Sera on her 8-year-old trip. We drove up to Hollywood and spent a day at Universal Studios, just the two of us, then stayed overnight at the Hollywood Hotel. The next day, we hit the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and finished up with a visit to the Getty Museum. It was a lovely time with my formerly youngest daughter. Of all my kids, Sera is the easiest for me to identify with because she reminds me so much of myself. She loves reading, thinks deeply, reserves her friendship for only the few who take the time to get to know her inside out, and is a total justice warrior. We had some great chats about what it means to be famous (since, after all, we were in Hollywood), the real value of money (not as much as you might think), and a bit about art (though not quite so much as I had planned). And since we spent a bit of time covering the birds and the bees, Sera has also determined that she is definitely adopting her kids (I'm sure watching me in my cheerful pregnant state contributed to that).
We also managed to squeeze in a day at the Bing Crosby races, which I was very glad of, since we'd missed all the horse-racing over the summer. I love horse-races, and if I ever get into gambling, that's definitely the route I'm going. We did a family pool, and I was the only one who won outright. We also spent a day visiting Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell in Campo, letting Cora meet her great-grandparents for the first time. The kids were pretty hilarious, hiding our little "treasure" in silly spots all over the house and taking photos. Cora is such a very game baby, always up for whatever these other crazy kids can come up with. We really did luck out.
For Thanksgiving, we originally planned to have Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell, as well as Aaron's Uncle Lars and his wife come out to our home for a traditional dinner. But a few days before, Grandpa Mitchell called to say that he didn't feel up to such a long drive, particularly with the Parkinson's disease he suffers from, and so we opted instead to drive up for yet another day at Universal Studios (like I said, we've been trying to make up for lost time!). It actually turned out to be a spectacular choice, as lines were short and all the Christmas decorations had just been put up. We enjoyed Jurassic Pizza for our Thanksgiving dinner, and I didn't have a single dish to wash afterward. Of course, on the way home, a bunch of nostalgia broke loose (
not from me) and I somehow ended up making a full Thanksgiving dinner the next day anyway, but not without losing it just before serving it, ranting about how hard I work and nobody appreciates me yadda yadda, storming out of the house, and then returning ten minutes later to a suddenly super-appreciative family. Still, next time we skip Thanksgiving dinner, we're skipping it for real!
Finally, we closed out the month with auditions for Annie, so it looks like that will take a chunk out of the next few weeks. Emerson and Sera are the only two in the show this time around, which should make some aspects easier, but I'm still amazed that they manage to put the whole show together in only 21 days--pretty impressive!
