It is my birthday and here are my moments of Zen:

Tonight is the harvest moon.

Last night, while doing my radio show, The Kitschen, at Allston-Brighton Free Radio 1670 AM, I was listening to Guided By Voices “Teenage FBI,” sitting behind the board, enjoying the crisp fall air that was coming in from the front door, and I started daydreaming. And I realized that I was daydreaming about the exact moment I was living. Zoning out, thinking, “wouldn’t it be cool if…” and there I was, living the if.

On my way back from dropping Brent at work today I was drinking a giant iced hazelnut coffee from the Double D with the window open to 65˚ and FNX was doing their Leftover Lunch thang and I rocked out to Teenage Fanclub, then “Der Kommissar,” then “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns.” In a row. And since there was no one behind me I drove slowly by the house I love with the claddaugh weather vane on top of the arbor, house number 14 1/2.

When I got home there was a package waiting for me from my sister Karen full of fantastic goodies that were so thoughtful including a semi-cheezy 2004 “Down The Shore” calendar from Long Beach Island, which is my touchstone place, with pictures of the Barnegat Lighthouse and dunes and whatnot and it is the perfect thing because I can enjoy LBI all year—we just returned from LBI on Sunday and I always want to weep when I leave there. So when I opened the present it made me cry a little.

But I have my period so everything is imbued with “special meaning.” Especially with the Harvest Moon controlling the crimson tide.

Forgive me for taking on the properties of a Precious Moments statuette.