Clarity

November

I love November. 

I love everything about November. 

The leaves are all orange, red, yellow and brown, the air is crisp, everything is starting to begin again. 

I can wear pea coats, and hats, and scarfs and boots and warm colors. My cheeks get rosy from the cold, and pumpkin spice scented everything is everywhere. 

November is the only month out of the year I can envision myself being happy. Perhaps I am happy. 

I wish my birthday was in November, I wish every month was like November. 

I even like Thanksgiving, despite the social situations. 

My mom and I used to volunteer at a woman's shelter on Thanksgiving in Portland. We'd, well I, would help cook, and she would be designated as the like whip cream or pie slicing girl. 

My mom near an oven is scary business. 

I plan to make Thanksgiving dinner for us this year. 

But it's not for a few more weeks. Instead of preparing and shopping for all the trimmings, I was forced to rake the leaves in the yard. 

Forty-five degrees outside, and my mom thinks I should rake leaves instead of homework, or anything remotely productive. 

I was listening to music, and half raking, half not, when Noah and Megan appeared with rakes and started helping me. 

Neighbors helping neighbors is such a weird phenomena to me. In Portland, my neighbors didn't even know my name, or my mom's name, or our last name. 

In Gem, people know us, people take time out of their day to help us. It's nice. Greg was right about one thing, living in Gem is about love, it's where family is, even if they aren't blood. 

I wonder why my mom didn't drag me here sooner. 

I guess she drew a line in the sand she didn't plan to ever cross again, but I was the wave that washed onto the shore and took her line away. 

I like knowing my grandparents, Gloria and Ralph are pretty cool for old people. My grandma is into vintage and antique things, and is always telling me to build anything and everything I can imagine. 

I made her a mail and key holder that hangs on the wall with a shelf on it. I covered it in old newspaper from the attic. 

It's in the front entry in their little condo. 

Some builder came in a few years ago, and bought up a bunch of the old decrepit almost condemned properties and turned them into condos. 

Mostly old people live there, and young adults. It's an interesting mesh of people. My grandparents like it there. Less to take care of, and some local kids keep the lawn mowed, and the flowerbeds nice. 

I want to hire them to do my yard. I don't like yard work. 

It's pointless. It looks nice for a while, and then the leaves blow back in, the weeds grow back up, the flowers die. 

My mom likes gardening though. 

Sawyer thinks it's fun to dig in the yard, and my mom hates it. I think he will soon have a designated digging spot in the back that is his go to hole. 

Sawyer likes Noah too. He always wants Noah to play with him. 

When Megan sees Sawyer, she goes in the other direction. It's kind of funny. She thinks he's some beast from the underworld there to steal her soul or something.