A is for Alex and Alligator*

Dani was kind enough to allow me to jump on this meme, in which you list 10 words (give or take) beginning with a certain letter that are important to you and give your reasons why.

A was a harder letter than I expected; I was hoping for B (books, brownies, and babies right there).

But I did ok, if I can cheat a little and use Hebrew words--they're common parlance around here, though, so I think of them as English.

Abba: Hebrew--Aramaic, technically--for father. What we call Taxman around here. My partner in crime. One of Miss M's first signs and one of her first words, too. (Actually it morphed from "Baba!") He's the linchpin keeping us all from freaking out too much.

Apple: Every fall that Taxman and I have been married, we've gone apple picking at this orchard. I had vague memories of doing this as a child in Massachusetts, and back in 2000 he was game to try it. So we went, and it's been an annual event since. We've done it in all kinds of weather--rain, shine, summery, chilly--and love it. We come home with dozens of apples and eat them for weeks. I make apple crisp and apple pie, and Taxman sometimes proposes to me again. He really likes apples and pastry in combination.

Awkward: wish I wasn't, but I am. Especially on the phone (the worst!) or in groups larger than six. I always assume others are attuned to it, but I'm not a social leper so I probably do better than I think.

Acumen: wish I had it. I admire people who do.

Alphabet: The building block of words and speech. The power to read and write at its very foundation. Watching Miss M learn her letters (and now be able to write--half by accident--"M" and "W") is awesome, in the fundamental and inspiring sense, not in the skateboarder sense.

Atlantic: An annual two-week summer trip (nay, pilgrimage) to the Delaware shore with my dad and stepmom (and sister, starting in 1984), plus various family members and friends in an ever-changing cast of characters. I have such solid, good memories from those weeks at the beach. I haven't been to Bethany in, wow, 16 or 17 years, but I can still remember what the sand feels like under my feet just before the sun flickers over the horizon. (Like cool, shifting velvet, if you were interested.) I would love to spend a week there now, but we could never afford it. < sniff >

Aquamarine: my birthstone. A beloved ring I got from my mom and stepdad as a Bat Mitzvah gift; the stone was purchased in India or Hong Kong (I honestly forget which) during one of my stepdad's Asian trips. The color of the water in Virgin Islands, where Taxman and I spent a glorious January week snorkeling all around St. John. And it's a pretty word.

And: Because I am never quite finished.

Actually: Because I am always afraid I am being misunderstood.

American: As much as I am sad/furious/frustrated by what is happening here in so many ways, I am happy to be one because I can safely be sad and furious and frustrated. (Or so says the Constitution, at any rate; the Administration maybe not.) And talk about it. And blog about it. I could even do that under my real name. Every time I vote I feel lucky. Insanely frustrated, but lucky.


* Copyright Two Little Hands Productions, Signing Time Volume 5, blah, blah.