Changing Seasons

With each season change a new set of memories comes back to greet me. Fall is my favorite season and so as of late, random memories (like driving by the house by Costco that used to set up a scary graveyard every Halloween) strike me at odd times. But lately, as summer has come to a close, I have also had summer sparks of nostalgia as well. On Thursday night I was driving over Skyline after meeting my friend Liz on 23rd and I was close to the antennaes with red lights that I remember I used to see standing in the front door of my parent's house (now new houses block that view). And today I was driving behind a Honda Prelude, which they don't make anymore, and it reminded me of my neighbor and going over to ask her if I could take her dog for a walk in the neighborhood. And the powerful smell of gas it was emitting (much like all old cars) reminded me of road trips with family in the summer time. Thinking of the neighborhood, I remember when our house backed to a field and you could hear dogs in the kennel barking or we could pet horses over the fence. We also had a duck pond in our neighborhood we could go down to. And we also had honest to goodness block parties, where the main street through the neighborhood was blocked with cones, and we had bicycle races and ate food and played other games. Now all of that has changed.

And the neighborhood I live in now is even worse. Stories of people getting mugged over the fence by the school, today I saw someone getting arrested, the cops cruising our complex trying to talk to some people who know some people...it makes me sad thinking about it. And to think when I was growing up I wanted to live in a neighborhood like in the Wonder Years and I didnt even realize how good I had it. I could at least be free to go biking all around the neighborhood (within a reasonable radius). I am sure more things will come to mind as the seasons continue to change and small things will continue to trigger happy memories.

This past week flew by with dinner dates (5 nights of eating out for me!), catching up with friends, getting over being sick, spending time doing nothing with Bryan, and running errands today with mom, then attending our apartment complex's annual end of summer block party (which is also maybe what inspired me to write this post...it was pirate themed and people were running around our loop on a tresure hunt in pirate attire...very reminiscent of trick or treating at Halloween. I myself scored two keys which unlocked a treasure chest with $50 worth of gift certicates!) .

Tomorrow is back to our old church to see what is new there and then working retail again tomorrow night, which I am not looking forward to. Everytime I think about working another shift at the video store I wish more and more that I could get out before I go completely insane...huh...maybe that already happened. But I think I figured out today that the less i sleep, the happier I am. My brain must be releasing endorphins to make up for my lack of rest, because after my much anticipated morning of sleeping in today, I found it left me feeling rather blah.