Nina In New York: Fall Has Sprung

A lighthearted look at news, events, culture and everyday life in New York. The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.
______________

By Nina Pajak

Another summer has come and gone. The beaches are closing. The pools will soon be drained. The days have already begun to grow shorter, and you can even catch a nip of cool, crisp air in the early mornings. The tomatoes are on the wane, and don't you even dare try to buy any raspberries. Don't. You. Dare.

As the mother to a single toddler, I am for the first time climbing aboard the impossible machine that is The School Year. I have been made to purchase a binder, whose purpose remains deeply unclear to me. I'm knee-deep in a summer assignment (I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT). I've planned both the first day of school and class picture outfits (because I have my priorities straight). It's exciting. It's new and confusing and overwhelming. Of course, it's also a little bit silly. My daughter is two. I have to keep reminding myself of that fact when I find myself staying up at night wondering when I'll finish that "homework," because it's gonna be a long 16 years ahead if I can't get a grip now.

So, rather than storyboarding a class project for a child who still poops in a diaper, I shall turn my attentions elsewhere.

There's something about the close of summer and the beginning of the fall season that always makes me want to start fresh. I know that's typically a chore assigned to spring -- spring cleaning, spring diets, the whole nature reborn thing -- but I feel like we've got it all wrong. We are about to spend the next six or so months trapped in our homes, captives of the harsh weather and eternal darkness that is winter in New York. Now is the time to make sure our houses are neat and tidy and operating smoothly. Now is the time to make sure you like how your walls are decorated, because you're going to be staring at them until April. Plus, come January, you're going to be expected to make a whole bunch of resolutions to be a better and higher functioning person. Wouldn't you rather get a jump on that now? Won't you look smart at that New Year's Day brunch when you can tell all your friends that you've already finished bettering yourself for the year?

Maybe it's the many formative years of adhering to the school calendar, but September always gives me an urge to overhaul, simplify, and improve. I want to throw away all my old clothes and redo the Feng Shui around this dump. I want to start prepping meals in advance and cooking for the week on Sunday nights and organizing my pantry so that our kitchen can become one of those places where people eat food that doesn't come out of a deli bag. I want to seek out more employment opportunities and find a volunteer cause and catch up on all those books I totally didn't ever sit down to read by the pool this summer (because I was in it, trying to convince my 2-year-old that she wasn't magically imbued with the knowledge of how to swim). Mostly, what I want to do is go out and buy a new agenda book and Lisa Frank folders for each of my new subjects, but I can't because I graduated from high school fifteen years ago and this isn't a Drew Barrymore movie. So instead, I'll settle for finally throwing away that basket of old ChapStick and mystery screws.

And buying a pretty, new basket for future ChapSticks and mystery screws. I mean, I am who I am.

Nina Pajak is a writer living with her husband, daughter and dog in Queens. Connect with Nina on Twitter!