yes

yes to new neighbors named vinnie and nurses who take the midnight shift. to lamps shaped like globes that sit in your front room and glow like phosporescent little moons. to ezra's swivel-hipped little run and ava's missing front tooth (she grins now like a prize fighter). yes to indian summer days, to opening all the windows in the house and re-reading favorite books (white oleander). to flokati rugs under foot, brand new boots, new underwear and skirts bright like tulips. yes to old kodak duaflex cameras (and then doing this to them so that you can take photographs like this). yes to projects, to distractions, to wandering minds and ideas that come to you in the middle of the night. yes to lite brites and the sweet, salty scent of play-doh. yes to wrinkled receipts that double as makeshift journal pages, to a self that is always shifting and changing. yes to flipping the pillow so that your neck meets the cool side, to the girl practicing trombone in the front yard, to the local hair salon named afro-rama that I drive by every single day. yes to playing so hard that your ponytail hangs all crooked and wonky. yes to skies that cover the day like a blanket, to candy-colored tutus lining dress shop windows. yes to changes so monumental they split your world wide open. I'm saying yes to change.