A Colorful Future

I've just read one of the more enjoyable NYT Modern Love installments in some time, "Chatting Up the Trophy Girl, Toddler Style" by Albert Stein. A Father's musings on his 2 year old son's run-in with the hottest wee thing in the neighborhood, little Miss Matilda Ledger (Heath and Michelle's daughter).

I can attest to the fact that Boerum Hill / Cobble Hill is quite the enclave for celebrity procreative nesting. In line at Ted & Honey's on Clinton and Congress yesterday morning, I ordered my eggs, ham and grits on a wrap to the insistent sounds of Ramona Saarsgaard refusing Daddy's (Peter Saarsgaard) offer to head out to the playground in favor of perching on Mommy's (Maggie Gyllenhaal) hip in wait of PBJs. Daddy eventually left to claim a swing, but not without a friend to keep him company. Shalom Harlow, of course.

I stumbled across Ted & Honey and its adjoining green, Cobble Hill Park (known as Verandah Place Park to locals), on Easter Sunday. Its tranquil beauty eventually persuaded me to look beyond its biggest deficit, in my opinion. It's decidedly less diverse (read : white) than my area of Brooklyn. Having grown up in a homogeneous community, it's important for me to see faces of all shades and hear mouths communicate in all tongues. And I want something similar for my children, a consideration that's seeming less premature and more present as of late.

By the time I took the last bite of my wrap, a perfect balance of sweet and spice thanks to a homemade apple-serrano chile sauce, I was convinced I could be a Pioneer in this uncharted corner of Brooklyn. Sure that the vista I was ingesting would only be made more attractive with the addition of my stoop sessions, famous for their uncanny assemblage of beautiful men and women of color, I began to scheme. About how I'd settle here with my patchwork family, about how someday my future 2 year old would run into the likes of Eva Whitehead (future daughter of Colson Whitehead) or James Saldaña-? (future son of Zoë Saldaña).

A girl can dream, a girl can actualize.