I had a bit of a tough commute this morning. I took my "usual" route through Park Slope to Clinton Street which leads through Cobble Hill and Brooklyn Heights to the Brooklyn Bridge. I must have been completely caught up in my own shit because I almost got hit about 4 times. It was probably me. I’ve also just come to the realization that I am turning 40 this Friday. It’s kind of just hit me like a ton of bricks. It’s damn hard to believe. Somehow I thought that things would be very different then they are. Right now, I’m living in Brooklyn about 1 mile from where I grew up. Don’t get me wrong, things are not all that bad, Brooklyn is an incredible place – I just biked to work and on Sunday the family and I biked to the farmer’s market and didn’t get into the car all day. Most weekends, we don’t, there’s no need to. But. But…I’m feeling that I need something else – I grew up here and when I was growing up I always felt out of place. For many years after I left, I figured that I’d never come back. After September 11^th, I moved back. It just seemed like the right thing to do, my family was here and it was my home.

Now, it’s different. I’m turning 40. Yesterday – we had a quiet lazy morning. It should have been an easy relaxing morning but I couldn’t relax, I was stuck inside. All I wanted to do was be outside, maybe sipping on my coffee looking out over the backyard, maybe doing some weeding in my garden, watering the kale. Watching the kids run around. I don’t know, I’ve never actually done it. I’ve always lived in apartments. But I’m feeling that I need something different. And I’m talking more than just a different route.

The best part of the morning was playing with my daughter. We played with some blocks and little Fischer-Price people. The first thing that I realized is that she’s turning into her own little person. One of the weird things about having two kids especially ones that are somewhat close in age is that you’re always tailoring things around the oldest kid. What does Gus need? What does Gus want to do?

And the younger one, for the most part, follows along. It was so interesting to have special one-on-one time with my daughter, where you really see as her personality blooms. She’s got a cute little quirky sense of humor. She’s constantly asking her self little questions about what she’s doing with wacky little faces and she was very interested in building structures and then having “the big bad wolf”, played by her favorite doll, Catherine, knock it down.

In the afternoon, they had semi-closed the Manhattan Bridge bike path. And I recently heard that it was going to be closed for 6 months, which is a real bummer. It's so much easier than taking the Brooklyn Bridge in the afternoon. Especially in the summer.

I decided to just go through the sign and ride the path anyway and it was actually a really nice ride - there was absolutely no one on the path. I road down Jay Street and through Park Slope to make my way home. I have a new favorite street. St. Marks Street between 3rd and 4th Avenue. The street is completely covered in a tree canopy. Then road down 7th Ave to 1st Street and the park. It was a nice ride, even in 90 plus temps.